The Annecy International Animation Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 2025 edition, running from June 8 to 14. (scroll down for full list of Official Selection titles)
Having previously announced Michel Gondry as an honorary guest, the festival will also celebrate UK Oscar nominee Joanna Quinn (Affairs of the Art) and The Simpsons creator Matt Groening with honorary Cristal awards.
Twenty-one feature films will be showcased in the festival’s Main Competition and Contrechamp Competition, selected from 130 submissions.
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Main competition titles include Sylvain Chomet’s Marcel Pagnol tribute A Magnificent Life as well as Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s Death Does Not Exist, and Dandelion’s Odyssey by Momoko Seto, and Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco.
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In a break with tradition, the opening night will world premiere a selection of five shorts rather than a single feature animation.
“After a historic 2024 edition, with a record attendance of 17,400 badge-holders, and all this despite a difficult context for the industry, we have worked with renewed determination to make the 2025 edition stronger, open and ambitious – to assist the revival,” said Mickaël Marin, CEO of the festival’s parent body CITIA, who presented the line-up with Marcel Jean, Artistic Director in Paris.
Alongside the Official Selection, the big draws are the previews of major upcoming animated features and shows as well as first looks at works still in production.
Sneak Previews will include Andy Serkis’ George Orwell adaptation Animal Farm; French action thriller Falcon Express by Jean-Christian Tassy and Benoît Daffis, and Genndy Tartakovsky’s Fixed.
As ever, the studios will be out in force.
Netflix will hold its annual “Next on Netflix Animation” event featuring teasers for animation series project Stranger Things, presented by showrunner Eric Robles and extracts from the family feature film In Your Dreams, written and directed by Alex Woo, in the presence of Hanna Minghella and John Derderian.
It will also be present via a conversation with Raphael Bob-Waksberg, creator of BoJack Horseman and Undone, about his new Netflix series Long Story Short, which be accompanied by a screening of an episode.
Sony Pictures Animation will present a first look Goat from Tyree Dillihay and co-director Adam Rosette, an animated comedy set in an all-animal world. Dillihay and producer Michelle Raimo-Kouyate will be in Annecy to front the presentation.
DreamWorks Animation will unveil a first look for Bad Guys 2 directed by Pierre Perifel and co-directed by Juan Pablo Sans.
Warner Bros. Animation is presenting a special session entitled “Creating Creativity: Celebrating 25 Years of Cartoon Network Studios” celebrating the studio’s landmark year. Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory), Craig McCracken (The Powerpuff Girls), Pendleton Ward (Adventure Time), Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe), J.G. Quintel (Regular Show) will be among artists joining the conversation.
It will also participate in behind-the-scenes panels for upcoming seriesBat-FamandGet Jiro. Warner Bros’ Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe has also produced the Annecy trailer this year, directed by Grant Orchard (Hey Duggee) with executive producer Ben Bocquelet (The Amazing World of Gumball).
The Walt Disney Company will also have a major presence with Pixar boss Pete Docter and Jared Bush, Creative Director at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Director and Scriptwriter of Zootopia 2, in attendance as festival guests.
The studio will also lay on previews and first looks for Zootopia 2, Pixar’s Elio, Marvel Animation’s Eyes of Wakanda, Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: Visions and Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, Disney Branded Television’s Dragon Striker and 20th Television Animation’s The Simpsons.
Official Competition
Allah is Not Obliged
Dir. Zaven Najjar
(Belgium, Canada, France, Luxembourg)
A Magnificent Life
Dir. Sylvain Chomet
(France, Luxembourg, Belgium).
Arco
Dir. Ugo Bienvenu
(France)
ChaO
Dir. Yasuhiro Aoki
(Japan)
Dandelion’s Odyssey
Dir. Momoko Seto
(Belgium, France)
Death Does Not Exist
Dir. Félix Dufour-Laperrière
(Canada, France)
Into the Mortal World
Dir. Zhong Ding
(China)
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Dirs. Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han
(France)
Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake
Dir. Irene Iborra
(Belgium, Chile, Spain, France).
The Last Blossom
Dir. Baku Kinoshita
(Japan)
Contrechamp competition
Balentes
Dir. Giovanni Columbu
(Italy)
Endless Cookie
Dirs. Seth Scriver and Pete Scriver
(Canada)
Jinsei
Dir. Ryuya Suzuki
(Japan)
Lesbian Space Princess
Dir. Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese
(Australia)
Memory Hotel
Dir. Heinrich Sabl
(Germany, France)
Nimuendajú
Dir. Tania Anaya
(Brazil, Peru)
Olivia & the Clouds
Dir. Tomás Pichardo Espaillat
(Dominican Republic)
Space Cadet
Dir. Eric San, aka Kid Koala
(Canada)
Tales from the Magic Garden
Dir. David Sukup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar, Jean-Claude Rozec
(Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, Slovenia)
The Great History of Western Philosophy
Dir. Aria Covamonas
(Mexico)
The Square
Dir. Bo-Sol Kim
(South Korea)
