Annecy season is upon us.
From Sunday, just about everybody who’s anybody within the animation world will descend on the lakeside city within the French Alps for the world’s largest animation movie pageant.
Greater than some other occasion, Annecy stays the business’s standard-bearer — a showcase for the biggest studio and streaming projects, a launchpad for impartial voices from all over the world and, maybe most significantly, the premier scouting floor for the following technology of animation expertise.
This yr’s version options six packed days of premieres, panels, displays and sneak peeks, operating alongside the three-day MIFA business market (June 23-26). Listed here are your not-to-miss highlights.
WORLD PREMIERES
‘Minions & Monsters’
Illumination & Common Footage
Annecy opens on Sunday, June 21 with the world premiere of Minions & Monsters, the third movie within the Illumination/Common franchise, and the one main Hollywood characteristic to launch on the pageant this yr.
However there might be a feast of small-screen premieres, together with the primary two episodes of Bandai Namco Filmworks’ hotly anticipated new Ghost in the Shell anime collection, screening June 22, Batman: Knightfall Half 1: Knightfall, from director Jeff Wamester, the primary entry in a brand new collection of digital-first animated options from Warner Bros. Animation, screening on June 23; and President Curtis, the Rick and Morty spin-off collection from Grownup Swim, will premiere June 24.
The pageant will shut on Saturday, June 27 with the world premiere of the quick movie Lysistrata, the final, posthumous work of legendary animator Richard Williams (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Thief and the Cobbler)
AWARD CONTENDERS
‘In Waves’
Courtesy of Silex Movies
Annecy has a stable observe file of selecting animated award-season contenders — from 2025 Oscar winner Circulation to current nominees Arco and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain.
Among the many prime contenders on this yr’s pageant line-up are Phuong Mai Nguyen’s In Waves, which premiered in Cannes and was snatched up by Netflix worldwide exterior of France; Leah Nelson’s biographical drama Tangles, produced by and starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Seth Rogen; Iron Boy, from French director Louis Clichy, which received the Particular Jury Prize in Cannes Un Sure Regard part final month; and Muyi, a Chinese language-set 2D drama from French director Julien Chheng.
PRESENTATIONS AND SNEAK PEEKS
Aardman Studios, celebrating their fiftieth anniversary this yr, are internet hosting a particular opening session at Annecy.
Aardman Studios
The studios and streamers use Annecy as a platform to announce new offers, first-looks and sneak previews. Aardman Studios (Wallace & Gromit, Shaun The Sheep) will kick issues off with a particular session on Sunday, with co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton, 4-time Oscar successful director Nick Park and studio CCO Sarah Cox taking the viewers by means of 50 years of storytelling on the British claymation masters.
On Monday, Warner Bros. Footage Animation President and CCO Invoice Damaschke will unveil the division’s new line-up — and provides a peek into company technique within the wake of the WB-Paramount merger — in a session that includes unique footage from the Invoice Hader-voiced The Cat within the Hat and Unhealthy Fairies with Cynthia Erivo and Ncuti Gatwa, in addition to a brand new Looney Tunes quick, Daffy Season. On Tuesday, administrators Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado will preview their upcoming DreamWorks Animation’s characteristic Forgotten Island.
Wednesday will see LAIKA’s deep dive into stop-motion epic Wildwood, with director Travis Knight unveiling particulars, and intensive footage from his upcoming characteristic, an adaptation of Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis’s 2011 novel, which options ensemble voice forged together with Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, Awkwafina and Mahershala Ali.
Disney+ will give a primary take a look at Season 15 of King of the Hill, adopted by a Q&A with co-creator Mike Choose. Netflix will display a primary take a look at Brad Bird‘s Ray Gunn and the Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan exec-produced animated collection Ghostbusters: Evening Shift, in addition to footage from their upcoming The One Piece anime collection and Charlie vs. the Chocolate Manufacturing facility movie, a spin-off of the traditional Roald Dahl story.
Thursday’s line-up features a masterclass with Ricky Gervais, discussing his upcoming Netflix adult animation series Alley Cats; and the Warner Bros. Animation/ DC Studios slate, with first appears at collection Mister Miracle, Starfire, Creature Commandos, and extra. Friday’s highlights embrace Warner Bros.’ grownup animation showcase, and first-looks at Disney’s Hexed and Pixar’s upcoming characteristic Gatto.
WORKS IN PROGRESS
An 2026 Annecy WIP showcase will characteristic the brand new reboot of traditional anime ‘Astro Boy’
Sony Footage Tv/Courtesy Everett Assortment
The Works in Progress periods are a spotlight of each Annecy Competition, offering an early snapshot of upcoming options in the midst of the artistic course of.
Amongst this yr’s WIP must-sees are Toei Animation’s Monkey Quest, from Shrek 2 author David N. Weiss, presenting on Monday; Netflix’s Steps, a re-telling/re-mix of the Cinderella story from administrators Alyce Tzue and John Ripa on Tuesday; and Wednesday’s presentation of Nicolas Hess’ reboot of OG anime Astro Boy.
DISCOVERIES AND HIDDEN GEMS
‘Sekiro: No Defeat’
Courtesy of Crunchyroll
Past the large premieres and studio showcases, Annecy, significantly in its sidebar sections — Contrechamp, Views, WTF, Off-Limits, Midnight Specials — stays a showcase for auteur animation and works from the margins.
Amongst this yr’s potential hidden gems are the Taiwanese 2D rotoscope drama Welcome to Dolly’s Home from administrators Seven Ych, Rady Fu, and Tree Muta, which follows a YouTube star whose life spirals into nightmare; the Filipino documentary 58th, from director Carl Joseph Papa, which chronicles a infamous bloodbath from 2009; Kenichi Kutsuna’s samurai motion movie Sekiro: No Defeat, which Crunchyroll has picked up worldwide; the surreal drama Spacetime Chronicles from Italian music video director Stefano Bertelli; and Jim Queen, a crude South Park-style spoof from France a few intercourse image on the Parisian homosexual scene who contracts an odd virus that turns him straight.
