10 Shorts Not to Miss at Annecy 2025

Regardless of its fixed progress and standing because the animation trade’s most vital animation occasion for studios, filmmakers, college students and followers, the Annecy Worldwide Animation Movie Pageant stays, at its core, one of many world’s biggest platforms for animated brief movies.

Under, we take a better take a look at 10 animated shorts competing at this 12 months’s competition that attendees received’t need to miss. We’re not saying these are the very best 10 shorts; we’ll go away that to the judges, however we imagine every presents one thing distinctive that anybody lucky sufficient to attend this 12 months’s occasion might respect.

“9 Million Colors,” Bára Anna (Czech Republic, Norway, Germany)

Bára Anna’s “9 Million Colors” is a vibrant and brilliantly lit 15-minute stop-motion musical that explores the unlikely bond between Fran, a multi-colored mantis shrimp, and Milva, a blind deep-sea fish. Set in a surreal underwater world, the movie delves into themes of notion, distinction and acceptance. With out dialogue, it depends on expressive animation and an evocative rating by Floex to convey its narrative. The movie’s distinctive mix of puppetry and stop-motion animation crafts a whimsical but poignant story that can resonate with audiences of any age. A Cartoon Springboard standout as a venture, the completed movie’s inclusion on this 12 months’s competition underscores its creative benefit and emotional depth.

“Atomik Tour,” Bruno Collet (Czech Republic, France)

In “Atomik Tour,” Bruno Collet merges social media documentary realism with surreal stop-motion as a Chilly Struggle tour information leads us by an deserted nuclear website by way of a video streaming app. With darkish humor and eerie nostalgia, Collet critiques each the absurdity and the tragedy of nuclear historical past whereas sometimes stunning the viewers with psychological thrills. His miniature units brim with unsettling element, and the uncanny monotone characters ship deadpan traces that hit with precision. It’s a well timed and quietly highly effective movie that exposes how we commemorate, or neglect, collective trauma.

“Bread Will Stroll,” Alex Boya (Canada)

“Bread Will Stroll” is as unusual as it’s magnetic. Iconic Canadian filmmaker Alex Boya delivers an intoxicatingly grotesque piece of hand-drawn surrealism, that includes strolling loaves of bread and melting anatomies. It’s equal components physique horror, cannibalism and existential comedy, steeped in absurdist traditions. Boya’s signature drawing type, fluid and twitching, brings his warped imaginative and prescient to life. This brief, voiced completely by Canadian actor Jay Baruchel, dares viewers to maintain wanting as its characters morph and are compelled in the direction of unenviable choices.

“Carcassonne-Acapulco,” Marjorie Caup, Olivier Héraud (France)

A brightly coloured stop-motion brief with a classic and hyper-stylized aesthetic, “Carcassonne-Acapulco” unspools aboard flight 7836.  Cutesy felt units and characters, and an enthralling ukulele soundtrack, arrange viewers for a shock when the crew faces an surprising knock on the cockpit door mid-flight, prompting a tense and comedic dilemma as in any other case informal pilots debate whether or not to permit the knocker in. The movie’s meticulous puppet animation and witty storytelling have already garnered vital acclaim, incomes it a spot on the Unifrance Brief Movie Awards.

“The Woman Who Cried Pearls,”  Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski (Canada)

Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s “The Woman Who Cried Pearls” is a haunting fable that delves into sorrow, love and the corrupting energy of greed. Premiering as one of many opening-night shorts at this 12 months’s competition, this Canadian title showcases the duo’s signature handcrafted puppetry and surreal storytelling. With a poignant rating by Patrick Watson, the movie immerses viewers in a melancholic story the place a woman’s tears remodel into pearls, resulting in unexpected penalties. Produced by the Nationwide Movie Board of Canada, this brief is one in a protracted line of standout titles that profit from one of many world’s most prolific and supportive public filmmaking applications.

“Life With an Fool,” Theodore Ushev (France)

Impressed by Victor Erofeyev’s novella, “Life With an Fool” is a tour de pressure of political expression and uncooked emotion. Theodore Ushev, whose 2019 brief “The Physics of Sorrow” made our must-watch listing at Annecy 2020, adapts the story right into a stark, expressionistic movie crammed with jagged edits and visceral brushstrokes. Within the movie, a protagonist accused of not working laborious sufficient is compelled to reside with an fool as punishment. Pulled from an asylum, the almost deaf roommate can solely utter a single syllable: “Ech.” Home chaos results in societal critique backed by an aggressive sound design and stark aesthetic. Ushev’s newest, produced by French powerhouse Miyu Productions, calls for consideration and leaves a mark.

“My Fantastic Life,” Calleen Koh (Singapore)

Koh’s “My Fantastic Life” is a sharply noticed satire of contemporary society as skilled by an overworked and underappreciated mom of two. By a charmingly off-kilter mix of 2D aesthetics, the movie follows a protagonist who, after catching a extremely contagious virus, should abandon her work as a private assistant to a demanding boss and her duties at house with a ineffective husband and two needy children. When her hospital keep is about to finish, she begins a sequence of over-the-top self-mutilations to keep away from returning to her unappreciative dependents, however grows to overlook and respect the enjoyment that they carry into her life.

“Star Wars: Visions – Black,” Shinya Ohira (Japan)

Some of the experimental entries within the Star Wars: Visions anthology, “Black” by Shinya Ohira reimagines the galaxy by a gritty, impressionistic lens. Recognized for his frenetic animation and summary storytelling, Ohira delivers a visually explosive meditation on battle and id. Removed from conventional fan service, this brief dives into the psychological toll of warfare and the paradox of heroism. It’s Star Wars stripped to its philosophical bones, uncooked, kinetic and unforgettable. An upbeat and frenzied jazz soundtrack fuels essentially the most visually beautiful interpretation of the Demise Star’s destruction that we’ve ever seen.

“Sulaimani,” Vinnie Ann Bose (France)

In “Sulaimani,” Vinnie Ann Bose crafts a fragile, introspective narrative centered on a restaurant meal and cup of spiced tea, and the recollections these dishes evoke in two Malaysian ladies residing in Paris, though for vastly totally different causes. By textured stop-motion animation for present-day scenes and colourful hand-drawn sequences for flashbacks, the movie captures the diaspora expertise with heat and nuance. As tales of affection, loss and migration unfold over small bites and cautious sips, Bose paints a portrait of id steeped in sensory reminiscence. Intimate and highly effective, “Sulaimani” is a heartfelt ode to cultural reflection and belonging.

“Tapeworm Alexis & the Opera Diva,” Thaïs Odermatt (Switzerland)

In one of many competition’s most delightfully weird entries, Thaïs Odermatt introduces us to a tapeworm named Alexis who accompanies the legendary opera diva Maria Callas throughout her rise to Prima Assoluta. “Tapeworm Alexis & the Opera Diva” is an excellent absurdist comedy, mixing crude humor with unexpectedly tender moments and ruminations on up to date themes. With vibrant, squiggly animation that depends closely on archival imagery and a riotous sense of rhythm, Odermatt delivers a brief that’s each a parody and a love letter to one in every of opera and popular culture’s biggest twentieth century icons. It’s grotesque, hilarious and unusually endearing.