Annecy Festival Unveils Inaugural Slate for International Animation Hub

Annecy Animation Movie Competition is rolling out a slate of occasions to mark its 2026 version and the opening of its sprawling new institute, together with a showcase for Laika, the studio behind “Coraline” and “The Boxtrolls,” and an exhibition devoted to Ankama (“Krosmoz”).

Annecy is already thought of the world’s main animation pageant. The brand new hub, known as Cité Internationale du Cinema d’Animation, will now broaden Annecy’s attain past its annual pageant and reinforce its standing as a worldwide animation platform.

The location will open on June 19 with an inaugural exhibition, “Ankama: From Sketch to Epic — 25 Years of Creation.” The immersive showcase – working by means of January 2027 — will discover the studio’s “Krosmoz” universe throughout animation, video video games and publishing, tracing its inventive journey from early sketches to completed works.

The exhibition round Laika, in the meantime, will convey its CEO, filmmaker Travis Knight, on the bottom in Annecy the place he’ll current early footage from “Wildwood,” some of the anticipated animated movies within the pipeline. .

A year-round cultural and academic hub, the Cité Internationale du Cinema d’Animation boasts an enormous screening room, an artists’ residency, particular areas for coaching programs and cultural motion, alongside exhibition areas, a bookstore and a present store. It’s situated in a nineteenth century landmark known as Haras, which spreads over 2.6 acres of lush gardens and buildings listed as French historic monuments.

Mickaël Marin, the director of Annecy pageant and its trade market MIFA, beforehand informed Selection that the thought behind the venue was to “create a cultural hub just like the French Cinematheque in Paris or the Lumiere Institute in Lyon, which is able to convey collectively animation lovers and artists from all around the globe.”

As Gaëtan Bruel, the president of the Nationwide Movie Board, pointed it, “The Annecy Competition isn’t solely the world’s main animation occasion, but additionally the third-largest occasion of its sort throughout all genres.”

“Along with the Cité internationale du cinéma d’animation, our purpose is to construct on these achievements and take issues even additional by making Annecy and its area the year-round world capital of animation,” he added.

Dominique Puthod, president of CITIA, the pageant’s organizing physique, stated, “The Cité is a spot for at present — and above all for tomorrow. It’s a spot for younger individuals, the place animation turns into a dwelling heritage shared by all.” He added, “Animation isn’t a minor type of cinema, however an artwork in its personal proper — a common language that connects generations.”

Training shall be a core pillar on the Cité Internationale du Cinema d’Animation, with areas such because the “Grenier à photographs” providing workshops and applications designed to assist youthful audiences perceive how photographs are made and easy methods to have interaction with them.

“With the opening of the Cité, Annecy absolutely asserts its standing because the world capital of animation,” stated Antoine Armand, describing the venture as a “main milestone” that strengthens a “distinctive ecosystem” and boosts town’s worldwide attain.