Annecy Festival 2025 Report: Sunny Days & Warm Welcomes to the Global Animation Community

This month, the “world capital of animated film” was overrun with artists, professionals, up-and-coming talents and film lovers from all over the world during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The lakeside town in France’s Haute-Savoie department was buzzing with 18,200 badge holders from 118 countries eager to take in a busy program of sneak previews, sessions with top international creators and the 40th anniversary of the MIFA market.

Among the countries represented by these thousands of visitors were four newcomers: Afghanistan, Guatemala, Montenegro and Rwanda. MIFA welcomed 6,500 professionals, with 196 stands, 400 journalists and more than 2,000 students, plus thousands of spectators every evening enjoying free open air screenings on Le Pâquier. over the course of the week, 23,500 festivalgoers and fans explored the artistry of award-winning series Arcane in an exclusive exhibition. All of this was made possible with the help of 650 dedicated volunteers.

“Above and beyond the figures, it is your laughter, emotional silences in the darkened theaters, and your passionate discussions by the lake that gives this Festival its meaning and beauty,” Mickaël Marin, CEO of CITIA, remarked during the Closing Ceremony. “I also want to highlight the 10th anniversary of the 2015 edition dedicated to women in animation. This is a symbolic milestone, but more importantly a foundation to continue to take action, examine our methods, open new doors and create space for all voices. It is with this in mind that I announced this week that CITIA will create a residency especially for female feature film directors.”

Once again, Annecy hosted a long list of esteemed creators from the worlds of animated film, television, shorts and more. The 2025 edition featured appearances by Michel Gondry, Joanna Quinn, Didier Brunner, Genndy Tartakovsky, Julie Gayet, Jared Bush, Andy Serkis, Matt Groening, Matt Selman, David Silverman, Pete Docter, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Sepideh Farsi, Ron Clements, Michel Ocelot, Raman Djafari, Chris Sanders, and many more.

Home viewers can visit the Festival’s YouTube channel to check out this year’s exclusive interviews with special guests, including Quinn; Gondry; Simpsons trio Groening, Selman & Silverman;  Serkis and more. You can also take a glimpse into the short film directors’ worlds by watching the Shorts Interviews.

Of course, a film festival must be crowned with Closing Ceremony and awards presentation. This year, the coveted Cristal for a Feature Film went to Arco by Ugo Bienvenu. The Paul Grimault Award went to Dandelion’s Odyssey by Momoko Seto. The feature film ChaO, by Yasuhiro Aoki, received the Jury Award. The Audience Award went to Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han.

In the short films category, Pierre-Luc Granjon won over both the jury and the public by scooping the Cristal, the Audience Award and the André Martin Award for his pinscreen work The Night Boots.

See the full list of 2025 awards winners here and the special partner prize winners here.

2025 also marked the MIFA’s 40th anniversary, reflecting on the Market’s role in the industry’s progress, promoting access to new technologies and addressing the challenges that the sector may be facing globally. This year was a chance to underline the unifying role that the MIFA plays in making animation more widely accessible in general, to new countries where it is still in the throes of development, and also to women filmmakers.

With women still very much under-represented in the industry, many events were dedicated to gender equity, including the “Women in the Animation Industry: A Decade of Change, A Future to Shape” conference, during which the creation of a residency devoted to women feature film directors was announced, and a workshop at the Campus jointly organized by the Lab Femmes de Cinéma, the Festival and the MIFA.

Badge holders who weren’t able to catch everything on the MIFA program can visit the Video Library, where 171 sessions are still available for viewing until December 2025.

Over the course of the event, CITIA kept on track with its environmental and social action plan, initiated several years ago. These achievements include:

• Zero generators
• 1 Carbon footprint calculator and 1 “Agir pour la forêt” (Act for the forest) collection with the ONF to help offset the festivalgoers’ carbon footprint.
• Shuttles, an electric tuktuk, car-sharing and special offers on Annecy urban buses to optimize festivalgoers’ transport, and a large number of bicycle parks.
• Vegetarian options in all the catering areas and food trucks associated with the event.
• 72 waste sorting bins and a 12-person team to manage waste.
• 70% reduction on paper printing in the space of 5 years and over 400 signage materials that can be reused the following year.
• 1 Accessibility Guide, a program of events, workshops and facilities dedicated to all forms of disability for a Festival for all audiences.
• Gender parity in the juries and conference speakers, a goal instituted 10 years ago with an entire edition devoted to women in animation.
• 1 Guide for Responsible Festivalgoers updated every year, to raise awareness among all participants and help us move forward together.
• With the support of La Matmut pour les arts there were 8 accessible screenings and the Festival’s identity in audio description.

 

 

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Highlights of this year’s Festival can still be experienced through Annecy Live and the event’s social feeds on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

Visit annecyfestival.com for more information.