Annecy Festival Reveals Highlights of a Jam-Packed 2025 Edition

Returning to the scenic French Alps from June 8-14, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (and its accompanying MIFA market, running June 10-13) has revealed a staggering lineup of programming highlights, including screenings in and out of competition, behind-the-scenes sessions, special guests and milestone celebrations. Particular spotlights of this edition are a tribute to Hungarian animation, the music video works of auteur animators and the MIFA’s 40th anniversary.

Among the many delights awaiting visitors, the 2025 edition introduces a new short film program, Midnight Shorts, as a complement to the Midnight Specials screenings which focus on weird and wonderful films. This year’s attendees will also be the first to experience the Annecy Dome, a cozy new 32-seat venue to experience immersive works, in the heart of Annecy’s city center.

Joining the previously announced Short Film and TV Film selections, we now have the roster of Feature Films showcased in the 2025 program:

Feature Film Competition

• Allah Is Not Obliged. Director: Zaven Najjar (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada)
• The Last Blossom. Director: Baku Kinoshita (Japan)
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain. Directors: Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han (France)
• Arco. Director: Ugo Bienvenu (France)
• Decorado. Director: Alberto Vázquez (Spain, France)
• Into the Mortal World. Director: Zhong Ding (China)
• Death Does Not Exist. Director: Felix Dufour-Laperrière (Canada, France)
• A Magnificent Life. Director: Sylvain Chomet (France, Luxembourg, Belgium)
• Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake. Director: Irene Iborra (Spain, France, Belgium, Chile)
• Dandelion’s Odyssey. Director: Momoko Seto (France, Belgium)

Contrechamp Features

• Balentes. Director: Giovanni Columbu (Italy)
• ChaO. Director: Yasuhiro AOKI (Japan)
• Endless Cookie. Directors: Seth and Peter Scriver (Canada)
• Jinsei. Director: Ryuya Suzuki (Japan)
• The Great History of Western Philosophy. Director: Aria Covamonas (Mexico)
• Lesbian Space Princess. Directors: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese (Australia)
• Memory Hotel. Director: Heinrich Sabl (Germany)
• Nimuendaj. Director: Tania Cristina Anaya (Brazil, Peru)
• Olivia & The Clouds. Director: Tomás Pichardo Espaillat (Dominican Republic)
• Space Cadet. Director: Kid Koala (U.S.)
• Tales from the Magic Garden. Directors: David Sukup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar, Jean-Claude Rozec (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, Slovenia)
• The Square. Director: Bo-Sol Kim (South Korea)

Midnight Specials

Special screenings of satirical, off-the-wall, radical and audacious adults-only films.

• All You Need Is Kill. Director: Kenichiro Akimoto (Japan)
• Another World. Directors: Kai Chung, Tommy Ng (Hong Kong)
• Nightmare Bugs. Directors: Saku Sakamoto, Osamu Fukutani (Japan)
• Mononoke The Movie: Chapter II – The Ashes of Rage. Directors: Kenji Nakamura, Kiyotaka Suzuki (Japan)
• Heart of Darkness. Director: Rogerio Nunes (France, Brazil)

Another annual highlight of Annecy’s programming is the Works in Progress section, which this year will present sessions exploring 16 upcoming projects: 12 feature films and four television series, hailing from 12 countries of production.

WIP Features

• Carmen. Sebastian Laudenbach (France)
• The Devil’s Vein. Germán Acuña (Chile, Colombia)
• In Waves. Phuong Mai Nguyen (France, Belgium, USA)
• Zsazsa Zaturnnah. Avid Liongoren (The Philippines, France)
• Fallen. Louis Clichy, Alexandre Astier (France, Belgium)
• Daisy’s Life. Masaaki Yuasa (Japan, France)
• Heirloom. Upamanyu Bhattacharyya (India)
• The Cat in the Hat. Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni. (U.S.)
• The Mourning Children. Sunao Katabuchi (Japan)
• Lucy Lost. Olivier Clert (France)
• Fairyheart. Anita Doron (Hungary, Canada, Germany)
• The Violinist. Ervin Han, Raul Garcia. (Singapore, Italy, Spain)

WIP Series

• Bitches. Caiman Productions (France)
• Women Wearing Shoulder Pads. Adult Swim, Cinema Fantasma (U.S., Mexico)
• Get Jiro. Warner Bros. Animation (U.S.)
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch. Ubisoft , Netflix (France, U.S.)

The Annecy Festival will welcome Oscar-winning filmmaker Michel Gondry for the very first time. The visionary artist transformed the world of music videos through his work with artists such as Björk, The White Stripes, Steriogram and Daft Punk. The Festival will present him with an Honorary Cristal in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the vitality of animation, as well as present his new animated feature Maya, Give Me Another a Title in a special screening event.

Honorary Cristals will also be awarded to indie animation icon Joanna Quinn (featured in the Women and Animation program) and to Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons.

Annecy will also open its arms to Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator of BoJack Horseman), who will be offering an early look at his upcoming Netflix series Long Story Short; Pixar CCO Pete Docter, offering an early look at the studio’s upcoming features Elio, Hoppers and Toy Story 5 as well as celebrating the 30th anniversary of Toy Story; and Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of beloved series and films including Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Sym-Bionic Titan and Hotel Transylvania, on deck to showcase his Sony Picture Animation adult comedy Fixed ahead of its Netflix debut.

Outside the competition and official festival programs, Annecy attendees will find a number of compelling new feature films representing a variety of stories and animated visions:

• Animal Farm by Andy Serkis – Premiere of this new animated adaptation (following a  first version in 1954) of Animal Farm, George Orwell’s famous political tale,  published for the first time in 1945. – Monday, June 9
• Maya, Give Me Another Title by Michel Gondry – In the presence of the director – Monday, June 9
• Falcon Express by Jean-Christian Tassy & Benoît Daffis – Premiere of the new feature film (French release date: July , thru Apollo Films) from the prolific French studio TAT Productions (The Jungle Bunch, Pattie and the Wrath of Poseidon) – Tuesday, June 10; Doubled-up with a Making of session on Thursday, June 12
• The Songbird’s Secret by Antoine Lanciaux – Screening of the new film by Valence-based studio Folimage, in the presence of the director. – Wednesday, June 11
• Fixed – Premiere of Genndy Tartakovsky feature film, which he presented as a first look WIP at Annecy in 2023, in the presence of the director. – Wednesday, June 11 

Major animation players from Hollywood and France will showcase their next big titles and mark their successes during the Festival. Some highlights include…

Disney’s Animation Studios (previously announced):

• Walt Disney Animation Studios – First look at Zootopia 2 with Jared Bush – Friday, June 13
• Pixar Animation Studios – First look at Elio with Pete Docter, directors Madeline Sharafian & Domee Shi and producer Mary Alice Drumm (in theaters June 18) – Friday, June 13
• Marvel Animation – Full episode of Eyes of Wakanda (on Disney+ August 6), a series based on the Black Panther saga, followed by a discussion with the series’ creator and director, Todd Harris – Monday, June 9
• 20th Television Animation – Premiere of episodes from the new season (Season 36) of The Simpsons followed by a conversation with creator and executive  producer Matt Groening, director David Silverman and scriptwriter Matt Selman – Tuesday, June 10  

Sony Pictures Animation

• First look at GOAT (in theaters February 13, 2026), an  animated comedy blending fashion and basketball – Monday, June 9 

DreamWorks Animation

• First look at The Bad Guys 2 (in theaters August 1, 2025) by Pierre Perifel, in the presence of the director – Wednesday, June 11

Warner Bros. Animation (announced this morning)

• Creating Creativity: Celebrating 25 Years of Cartoon Network Studios brings together creators of popular series to mark the anniversary, including Craig McCracken, Genndy Tartakovsky, Rebecca Sugar, Adam Muto and J.G. Quintel, followed by a panel discussion. – Tuesday, June 10 at 1 p.m.
• Adult Swim: A presentation of Season 3 of Smiling Friends (which was in competition in 2024 with an episode from Season 2) in the presence of creators Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel. – Wednesday, June 11

Netflix (announced this morning)

• Studio Showcase including a first look at the new Stranger Things animated series in the presence of producer John Derderian, plus 20 minutes of the family feature film In Your Dreams, written and directed by Alex Woo and Erik Benson, in the presence of Hanna Minghella (releasing in Fall 2025). – Wednesday, June 11 at 6 p.m.
• Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator of Bojack Horseman), in discussion about his new series Long Story Short and screening of an episode from the upcoming show. – Thursday, June 12 at 10:30 a.m.

Paramount Animation

• The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender – presentation of a new project from the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise, an animation feature film directed by Lauren Montgomery, who worked on the original series (release date: October 10). – Thursday, June 12, afternoon
• The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants: Presentation of the franchise’s new feature film – Thursday, June 12, afternoon
  

Ankama

• Presentation of the Wakfu and Dofus studio’s new projects. – Thursday, June 12 at 11 a.m.

This non-competitive category launched last year, enables the general public and families to discover 13 sneak preview films:

• Captain Sabertooth and the Countess of Grel. Yaprak Morali, Are Austnes, Rasmus A. Sivertsen (Norway)
• Fleak. Jens Møller, Mikko Pitkänen and Luca Bruno (Finland / France / Malaysia / Poland)
• The Girl Who Stole Time.  Ao Yu and Tienan Zhou (China)
• Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog. Benjamin Mousquet (Belgium / France)
• I Am Frankelda. Rodolfo Ambriz and Arturo Ambriz (Mexico)
• Mary Anning. Marcel Barelli (Belgium / Switzerland)
• My Grandfather Is a Nihonjin. Célia Catunda (Brazil)
• Little Caribou. Barry O’Donoghue (Ireland)
• Csongor & Tünde. by Máli Csaba, Pálfi Zsolt (Hungary)
• Spiked. Caroline Origer (Belgium / France / Luxembourg / U.K.)
• Stitch Head. Steve Hudson (Germany / Luxembourg)
• Thelma’s Perfect Birthday. Reinis Kalnaellis (Latvia / Luxembourg)
• Hyakuemu (100 Meters). Kenji Iwaisawa (Japan / U.S.)

This spotlight on Hungarian animation will be the opportunity for festivalgoers to discover all the depth of this production through 9 programs curated by Anna Ida Orosz, animation specialist at the Film Archive of the National Film Institute in Budapest. A collection of commercial films to award-winning films, shorts and feature films, from heritage films to graduation films from the esteemed MOME University, the whole history and diversity of Hungarian animation will grace the Annecy cinema theatre screens.

The lineup include four feature films:

• Bubble Bath by György Kovásznai, 1980
• Son of the White Mare by Marcell Jankovics, 1981
• Heroic Times by József Gémes, 1982 – the first feature film to win an Annecy Cristal in 1985
• The District! by Áron Gauder, 2005 – winner of the Cristal for a Feature Film at Annecy 2005

Additionally, there will be a free and public open-air screening of Gauder’s Four Souls of Coyote, a Hungarian music videos program in the section “The Video Clip Geniuses,” a Midnight Special screening and Making of devoted to Ruben Brandt, Collector by Milorad Krstić, the WIP on Anita Doron’s Fairyheart and a number of free exhibitions around the city.

The Video Clip Geniuses will celebrate the art of animated music video production with five programs of clips interspersed with discussions with each artist. (Sunday, June 8 to Thursday, June 12 at 5:30 p.m.)

• Michel Gondry (Sunday, June 8), several videos plus a Masterclass 
• Raman Djafari (Monday, June 10), the work of this year’s Annecy Festival poster designer 
• Steve Cutts (Tuesday, June 11), including a Making-of video
• Victor Haegelin (Wednesday, June 12)
• Jérôme Combe and Fortiche (Thursday, June 13)
• Plus, a program of Hungarian music videos from 2017-2025

Once again this year, the Festival will be garnishing the city with many free exhibitions.

Among them, in the center of Le Pâquier next to the lake, “Arcane at Annecy 2025 – The Exhibition Event” — produced by Fortiche Production, Riot Games and the Annecy Festival — will take a behind-the-scenes look at the creation and production of one of the most striking and award-winning animation series for adults in recent years.

Annecy 2025 celebrates 40 years of supporting the global animation film industry’s ecosystem: the International Animation Film Market (MIFA).

The market has enjoyed steady growth in the last four decades. Today, over 10,000 m² – including the exhibition area, the Impérial Palace conference center as well as the Campus MIFA dedicated to young aspiring talent since 2023 – welcomes professionals and students from almost a hundred nations. The MIFA also boasts 200 events over the course of four days: conferences, professional meetings, workshops and pitches for projects in development from around the world.

Once again, this year, the Mifa Exhibition Area is expanding to welcome even more territories (Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Scotland, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Kosovo and Hungary) and new companies (Mattel, Creative Scotland, Ausfilm, New Zealand Film Commission, Procomer, Surfing Giant and others), not to mention the ever increasing number of schools and new technology stands.

For the first time ever, a Hungarian pavilion along with a significant delegation will be present, which demonstrates the dynamism of this industry within the international market. Director Áron Gauder, Jury Award winner at Annecy in 2023 for Four Souls of Coyote, has accepted the role of Patron of the MIFA Campus. He will be giving a Masterclass for all the students coming to Annecy from around the world. MIFA will also offer a Talent Panel by the MOME University as well as various other professional panels.

The program includes a flurry of press conferences from producers and broadcasters including Mediawan Kids & Family, SPI, AnimFrance, France TV, Groupe M6 and Canal+. The market will also highlight daily themes: Women in Animation (Monday), Video Games with a cinematics competition (Tuesday & Wednesday), Animated Documentary (Thursday) and Music (Friday).

The MIFA Conference section is focused on the future, supporting industry transformation and spotlighting emerging talent. Topics include:

• Cinematics, real-time and AI
• Animation and AI
• 10 years with “Women & Animation”
• 40 years of the MIFA
• Michael Hirsch Keynote
• European animation’s current issues
• Private financing
• The Animated Documentary (Mifa Pitches new section)
• VR tools for animation
• Video game/animation IP adaptation
• European broadcasters: What’s the future for public and private channels

In addition to Masterclasses by Michel Gondry and Áron Gauder, MIFA Campus will offer a freshly reorganized selection of daily content:

• Tuesday: New Student Pitch session with eight graduation film projects selected from international animation schools
• Tuesday and Wednesday: Recruitment, a host of studios present to spot new talent: Disney, Illumination, LAIKA, Lucasfilm, Netflix; and various schools: MOME (Hungary), Rubika, GOBELINS Paris, MoPA (France), The Animation Workshop (Denmark) etc.
• Thursday and Friday: New Tech Workshops; 25 workstations, with Side FX, TVPaint, Pro Create and more.
• Friday: Music day
• Every day: Tech Breakfasts with Blender, Autodesk and DNEG;  Demos and panel discussions with Epic Games, Artstation, et al); and Presentations by delegations including Laika, Hungary, the Oscars and Toei Animation.