21 feature films will form the basis of the Official and Contrechamp competitions of the 44th  Annecy Animation Film Festival (directed by Mickaël Marin), which is unspooling between 8 and 14 June.

Unveiled yesterday, this selection concocted by artistic director Marcel Jean includes 10 contenders for the Official Competition’s 2025 Crystal Award, which will be assessed by a jury composed of Sepideh Farsi, György Ráduly and Pablo Picco. Seven European (co)productions steal focus among these works, including Allah Is Not Obliged by the Lebanese director based in Paris Zaven Najjar (based on Ahmadou Kourouma’s novel of the same name), Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake by Spain’s Irene Iborra (adapted from La vie est un film by Maite Carranza) and five titles set to world première in May in the Cannes Film Festival: three by French filmmakers (Little Amélie or the Character of Rain by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han, Arco by Ugo Bienvenu and A Magnificent Life by Sylvain Chomet), Death Does Not Exist by Canada’s Félix Dufour-Laperrière and Dandelion’s Odyssey by the Japanese director living in Paris Momoko Seto. Two Japanese productions (courtesy of Yasuhiro Aoki and Baku Kinoshita) and one Chinese work (directed by Zhong Ding) are also in the running.

Three European productions stand tall among the 11 feature films selected for the Contrechamp Competition, which will be judged by a jury comprising Pablo Berger, Nadja Andrasev and Jessica Poce: Balentes [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Italy’s Giovanni Columbu (which world premiered in the IFFR), Memory Hotel [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Germany’s Heinrich Sabl (following its world premiere in DOK Leipzig) and Tales from the Magic Garden [+lee también:
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entrevista: David Súkup
ficha de la película] by Czech director David Sukup in league with Slovakia’s Patrik Pašš, Slovenia’s Leon Vidmar and France’s Jean-Claude Rozec (following the movie’s world premiere in the Berlinale’s Generation line-up). This will be a markedly international competition, since the Dominican Republic will also be present (Tomás Pichardo Espaillat) alongside Brazil (Tania Anaya), Mexico (Aria Covamonas), Japan (Ryuya Suzuki), South Korea (Bo-Sol Kim), Canada (by way of two films from Eric San, aka Kid Koala, and the duo Seth Scriver and Pete Scriver) and Australia (Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese).

Equally eye-catching in the tantalisingly rich Annecy festival line-up are five premières showing in Screenings Events (notably the French movies Maya, donne-moi un autre titre by Michel Gondry, The Songbirds’ Secret by Antoine Lanciaux and Pets on a Train by Jean-Christian Tassy and Benoît Daffis), the non-competitive "Annecy Presents" section, consisting of 12 films geared towards wider audiences and families, several ‘making of’ sessions, and an array of first images revealed by various American studios (Sony Pictures, DreamWorks, Warner Bros., The Walt Disney Company, Netflix), not to mention a short films programme and competition.

This year will also see the festival paying tribute to Hungarian animation and awarding an Honorary Crystal to three individuals: Michel Gondry (who’ll also deliver a masterclass), English director and animator Joanna Quinn and America’s Matt Groening (who created The Simpsons).

Last but not least, the Mifa (International Animation Film Market) will be celebrating its 40th anniversary between the 10 and 13 June, with 32 pitching sessions and 11 conferences on the agenda, and with the Mifa Animation Industry Award set to be handed to French producer Didier Brunner, among other events.

The selection is as follows:

Official Competition

ChaO - Yasuhiro Aoki (Japan)
Arco - Ugo Bienvenu (France)
A Magnificent Life- Sylvain Chomet (France/Luxembourg/Belgium)
Into the Mortal World - Zhong Ding (China)
Death Does Not Exist - Félix Dufour-Laperrière (Canada/France)
Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake - Irene Iborra (Belgium/Chile/Spain/France)
Housenka - Baku Kinoshita (Japan)
Allah is Not Obliged - Zaven Najjar (Belgium/Canada/France/Luxembourg)
Dandelion’s Odyssey - Momoko Seto (Belgium/France)
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain - Maïlys Vallade et Liane-Cho Han (France)

Contrechamp Competition

Nimuendajú - Tania Anaya (Brazil/Peru)
Balentes [+lee también:
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The Great History of Western Philosophy - Aria Covamonas (Mexico)
Lesbian Space Princess - Emma Hough Hobbs et Leela Varghese (Australia)
The Square - Bo-Sol Kim (South Korea)
Olivia and the Clouds - Tomás Pichardo Espaillat (Dominican Republic)
Memory Hotel [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Heinrich Sabl (Germany/France)
Space Cadet - Eric San, alias Kid Koala (Canada)
Endless Cookie - Seth Scriver et Pete Scriver (Canada)
Tales from the Magic Garden [+lee también:
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entrevista: David Súkup
ficha de la película] - David Sukup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar, Jean-Claude Rozec (Czech Republic/France/Slovakia/Slovenia)
Jinsei - Ryuya Suzuki (Japan)

Screening Events

Animal Farm - Andy Serkis (UK/Canada)
Maya, donne-moi un autre titre - Michel Gondry (France)
Pets on a Train - Jean-Christian Tassy and Benoît Daffis (France)
The Songbirds’ Secret - Antoine Lanciaux (France/Belgium)
Fixed - Genndy Tartakovsky (USA)

Annecy Presents

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