zootopia 2 animal farm

Source: Disney / Aniventure

‘Zootopia 2’, ‘Animal Farm’

France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival (June 8-14) will preview upcoming animations including Zootopia 2, Animal Farm and the Stranger Things animated series as part of its 2025 lineup.

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, director Michel Gondry and acclaimed UK animator Joanna Quinn will receive honorary Cristal awards.

Gondry will present his Berlinale 2025 title Maya, Give Me a Title as a special screening. 

Scroll down for the full list of competition films, screening events and studio showcases 

Also attending are Andy Serkis for what the festival described as a ‘special premiere’ of his animated feature adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, ahead of its theatrical release on July 11; and Iranian director Sepideh Farsi, as one of the Feature Film Competition jurors alongside Pablo Pico and Gyorgy Raduly. 

The 10-strong feature film competition will include A Magnificent Life, the latest feature from French director Sylvain Chomet, heading to Annecy from its world premiere as a Special Screening at Cannes, and Olivia And The Invisible Earthquake, the feature debut of Spanish animator Irene Iborra.

Olivia… is one of five features in competition to have previously participated in Annecy as a Work in Progress.

Of the upcoming slates from the US studios, Disney Animation Studios is presenting a first look at Zootopia 2; and Pixar adventure Elio, with the latter opening wide on June 18. Jared Bush, Zootopia 2 director and the new CEO of Disney Animation Studios, will be in town, along with Pixar CCO Pete Docter.

Marvel Animation will play one full episode of Eyes Of Wakanda, two months before its launch on Disney+ and Groening will present exclusive episodes from The Simpsons’ 36th season.

Netflix is screening a first look at Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 animated series project and will host a discussion with Bojack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg about his new series Long Story Short, as well as playing the first episode

Dreamworks Animation will run a first look at Bad Guys 2 ahead of its August 1 wide release, while Paramount will present The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants and its new project from the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise, titled Aang: The Last Airbender.

Works in progress

The 12 feature film works in progress for 2025 include Carmen, the new film from Sebastien Laudenbach, who won the main Annecy Cristal in 2023 with Chicken for Linda!, and Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni’s The Cat In The Hat musical, for Warner Bros.

The festival will pay tribute to Hungarian animation, in partnership with the National Film Institute Hungary, Institut Liszt and Paris’ Hungarian Cultural Centre. With some Hungarian filmmakers unwilling to work with government funding due to concerns of censorship, Annecy artistic director Marcel Jean said the festival has been free to programme what it wanted. 

“There were no constraints about that,” Jean told Screen. “The people from the NFI were very open with us, and proud of all Hungarian creators.”

The festival is hoping for another rise in attendees, after a record-breaking 17,400 accredited guests last year. Visitors this year will encounter a new venue: the Annecy Dôme, two minutes’ walk from the main Pathe screening venue.

The concurrent MIFA market is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and will welcome attendees from over 100 countries, including first-time country stands from Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Scotland, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Kosovo and Hungary.

Companies attending for the first time include Mattel, Creative Scotland, Ausfilm and the New Zealand Film Commission. “Japan will be here really strongly – they are coming with new ways they want to work,” said Veronique Encrenaz, head of MIFA. “China is really back, and Korea, and European countries are pushing a lot of animation. Many booths have been enlarged.”

Annecy 2025 selected titles

Feature Film Selection

Allah Is Not Obliged (Bel-Can-Fr-Lux) dir. Zaven Najjar

The Last Blossom (Jap) dir. Baku Kinoshita

Little Amelie or the Character of Rain (Fr) dirs. Mailys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han

Arco (Fr) dir. Ugo Bienvenu

Into the Mortal World (China) dir. Zhong Ding

Death Does Not Exist (Can-Fr) dir. Felix Dufour-Laperriere

A Magnificent Life (Fr-Lux-Bel) dir. Sylvain Chomet

Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake (Bel-Chile-Sp-Fr) dir. Irene Iborra

Dandelion’s Odyssey (Bel-Fr) dir. Momoko Seto

ChaO (Jap) dir. Yasuhiro Aoki

Contrechamp Feature Films

Balentes (It) dir. Giovanni Columbu

Endless Cookie (Can) dirs. Seth Scriver, Peter Scriver

Jinsei (Jap) dir. Ryuya Suzuki

The Great History of Western Philosophy (Mex) dir. Aria Covamonas

Lesbian Space Princess (Australia) dirs. Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese

Memory Hotel (Ger-Fr) dir. Heinrich Sabl

Nimuendaj (Braz-Peru) dir. Tania Cristina Anaya

Olivia & the Clouds (Dom) dir. Tomas Pichardo Espaillat

Space Cadet (Can) dir. Kid Koala

Tales from the Magic Garden (Cze-Fr-Slovakia-Slovenia) dirs. David Sukup, Patrik Pass, Leon Vidmar, Jean-Claude Rozec

The Square (S Kor) dir. Bo-Sol Kim

Screening Events

Animal Farm (UK) dir. Andy Serkis

Maya, Give Me A Title (Fr) dir. Michel Gondry

Falcon Express (Fr) dirs. Jean-Christian Tassy, Benoit Daffis

The Songbird’s Secret (Fr-Bel) dir. Antoine Lanciaux

Fixed (US-Braz) dir. Genndy Tartakovsky

Midnight Specials (in progress)

All You Need Is Kill (Jap) dir. Kenichiro Akimoto

Another World (HK) dirs. Kai Chung, Tommy Ng

Nightmare Bugs (Jap) dirs. Saku Sakamoto, Osamu Fukutani

Mononoke The Movie: Chapter II – The Ashes of Rage (Jap) dirs. Kenji Nakamura, Kiyotaka Suzuki

Heart of Darkness (Fr-Braz) dir. Rogerio Nunes

Works in Progress

Carmen (Fr) dir. Sebastien Laudenbach

The Devil’s Vein (Chile-Col) dir. German Acuna

In Waves (Fr-Bel-US) dir. Phuong Mai Nguyen

Zsazsa Zaturnnah (Phi-Fr) dir. Avid Liongoren

Fallen (Fr-Bel) dir. Louis Clichy

Daisy’s Life (Jap-Fr) dir. Masaaki Yuasa

Heirloom (India) dir. Upamanyu Bhattacharyya

The Cat in the Hat (US) dirs. Erica Rivinoja, Alessandro Carloni

The Mourning Children: Nagiko and the Girls Wearing Tsurubami Black (Jap) dir. Sunao Katabuchi

Lucy Lost (Fr) dir. Olivier Clert

Fairyheart (Hun-Can-Ger) dir. Anita Doron

The Violinist (Sing-It-Sp) dirs. Ervin Han, Raul Garcia

Series

Bitches (Fr) dir. Marion Tacconi

Women Wearing Shoulder Pads (US-Mex) dirs. Gonzalo Cordova, Rodolfo Ambriz, Arturo Ambriz, Ana Coronilla, Fernanda G. Manzur, Irene Melis, Beto Petiches and Marta Hernaiz Pidal

Get Jiro (US) dir. Rick Morales

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwath (Fr-US) dirs. Guillaume Dousse and Felicien Colmet Daage

Studio showcases

Disney Animation Studios – Zootopia 2, Elio first looks

Marvel Animation – Eyes of Wakanda (1 episode)

20th Television Animation – The Simpsons (new episodes from season 36)

Lucasfilm – Star Wars: Visions ‘Black’, Star Wars: Tales of the Empire ‘Devoted’ – short films

Sony Pictures Animation – Goat first look

Dreamworks Animation – The Bad Guys 2 first look

Warner Bros. Anmiation – Cartoon Network Studios panel discussion; Smiling Friends season 3 presentation

Netflix – Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 animated series first look; 20 minutes of Alex Woo’s feature In Your Dreams; Raphael Bob-Waksberg in discussion about new series Long Story Short

Paramount Animation – Aang: The Last Airbender, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants presentations 

Ankama – presentation of new projects and series

Annecy Presents

Captain Sabertooth and the Countess of Grel (Nor) dirs. Yaprak Morali, Are Austnes, Rasmus A. Sivertsen 

Fleak (Fin-Fr-Mal-Pol) dirs. Jens Moller, Mikko Pitkaanen, Luca Bruno

The Girl Who Stole Time (China) dirs. Ao Yu, Tienan Zhou

Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog (Bel-Fr) dir. Benjamin Mousquet

I am Frankelda (Mex) dirs. Rodolfo Ambriz, Arturo Ambriz

Mary Anning (Bel-Switz) dir. Marcel Barelli

My Grandfather is a Nihonjin (Braz) dir. Celia Catunda

Little Caribou (Ire) dir. Barry O’Donoghue

Csongor es Tunde (Hun) dirs. Mali Csaba, Palfi Zsolt

Spiked (Bel-Fr-Lux-UK) dir. Caroline Origer

Stitch Head (Ger-Lux) dir. Steve Hudson

Thelma’s Perfect Birthday (Lat-Lux) dir. Reinis Kalnaellis

Hyakuemu (Jap-US) dir. Kenji Iwaisawa

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