The Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 2026 edition (see full lineup below), setting the stage for another wide-ranging showcase that highlights the rapid global expansion of feature animation, and the surprising strength of European production.
Announced Tuesday, the official feature competition includes 11 films, with France again playing an outsized role — six of the titles are French productions or co-productions — even as the selection stretches across Asia and the Americas. In total, 26 countries are represented across the feature slate.
“If you look at the entire selection for official competition, a large majority of the films are from European producers,” artistic director Marcel Jean said. “French producers, but also Spanish, Belgian, Italy. The Scandinavian countries, Eastern European countries. We heard about a crisis in European animation production, but when you look at the quality of these films, and the amount of films, this doesn’t look like an industry in crisis.”
Among the headline titles in competition is Viva Carmen! from Sébastien Laudenbach, returning to Annecy after winning the Cristal in 2023 for Chicken for Linda!, co-directed with Chiara Malta. The new feature, an animated take on the classic opera, will premiere in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
Also in the lineup is In Waves from Phuong Mai Nguyen, an adaptation of A. J. Dungo’s acclaimed graphic novel, which will open Cannes Critics’ Week. Both films underscore Annecy’s role as a long-term incubator for projects, having previously been presented at the festival as works-in-progress.
“We want to follow a project from the very beginning,” Jean said. “[2025 Oscar winner] Flow was a work in progress in Annecy, [2026 Oscar nominee] Little Amelie was a work in progress. This year in competition, you have Viva Carmen! which was a WIP. In Waves was a WIP.”
Other competition highlights include Decorado from Alberto Vázquez, The Sunrise File from Rupert Wyatt and Émilie Phuong, and Tangles from Leah Nelson, alongside entries from China, Japan and Singapore.
Running parallel, the Contrechamp sidebar — Annecy’s platform for more formally adventurous features — will open with Welcome to Dolly’s House, a Taiwanese film from directors Seven Ych, Rady Fu and Tree MutaIt, blending the world of YouTube creators with fantasy elements.
“There’s a great diversity of film, of features, and countries represented, but all of great quality,” Jean said of the section. “The films in the non-competitive sections would have found a place in competition 10 years ago.”
Beyond the competition, Annecy will honor two pillars of animation with its Honorary Cristal Awards.
Prolific animator, writer and producer Mike Judge, co-creator of King of the Hill and creator of Beavis and Butt-Head, will be recognized for a career spanning more than three decades and his role in shaping adult animation. Judge will also give a masterclass and present a preview of the upcoming 15th season of King of the Hill, alongside co-creator Greg Daniels and showrunner Saladin K. Patterson.
“Mike Judge was a target for me for a long time,” said Jean. “We almost had him in 2020, when the pandemic hit. I think now, because of the general political situation, it was important to have somebody like Mike Judge, such a strong advocate for free speech and free thinking — the guy who made
Idiocracy, a prophetic classic — it was important to have him in Annecy, to discuss with him the role that adult animation can play in the discourse about the world we live in.”
Annecy will also fete the Brothers Quay, the stop-motion auteurs whose work has influenced generations of filmmakers, including Peter Greenaway and Christopher Nolan. The duo will each receive an Honorary Cristal and deliver a masterclass.
“We noticed there is a kind of revival of stop motion animation and the Brothers Quay basically revolutionized the world of stop motion animation in the 1980s,” said Jean. Their influence was absolutely incredible on hundreds of young animators and young filmmakers. So we’re really 40 years late in honoring them.” He added that, for Annecy, “honoring the Brothers Quay is a way of preserving the balance between the major studios, industry giants and die-hard independent filmmakers. The day Annecy stops celebrating this type of artist, we will have lost touch with our origins.”
Stop-motion will be a major focus across the 2026 edition, with a tribute to Aardman Animations, creators of Wallace & Gromit and Shaun The Sheep, marking its 50th anniversary, and Travis Knight set to attend for the first time to present footage from his upcoming feature Wildwood. The Incredibles director Brad Bird will also appear to discuss his long-gestating project Ray Gunn, while Ricky Gervais will host a masterclass on his upcoming Netflix adult animation Alley Cats.
Alongside the festival, Annecy’s Mifa animation market will once again serve as a key engine for development and dealmaking, awarding its Animation Industry Prize to seven French producers behind recent international successes Little Amélie, Butterfly and Arco — films that have traveled from Annecy to the César Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Oscars.
“We are here to help artists, to promote and to put a spotlight on project or on completed movies,” said Annecy Festival CEO Mickaël Marin. “Not just at Annecy, but at other festivals and markets. Because the production process for animation is a long process. We can have a project coming from a pitch at Mifa, then going to Annecy for a WIP session, then the next year in competition and then we support them through to the Oscars.”
Mifa will also launch a series of closed-door workshops on artificial intelligence and private investment, aimed at fostering open discussion among industry professionals.
“We see that there are a lot of fears, questions and everything at all levels,” said Véronique Encrenaz, head of the Mifa market. “The idea is that professionals gather and discuss and can give their approach of AI and private investment [and] how we can work together on that.”
The sessions, which will run over a three-year period, are designed to generate practical outcomes for the industry, including recommendations for future regulation and collaboration.
For Jean, the breadth of both the festival lineup and the market activity reflects a medium that has matured rapidly in recent years.
“Globally, most countries now have experience in doing animation features, experience that did not exist 10 years ago,” he said. “The evolution of production around the world means now the quality is there everywhere.”
Full 2026 Annecy Lineup
Competition
Viva Carmen!, dir. Sébastien Laudenbach, (France)
Iron Boy, dir. Louis Clichy, (France, Belgium)
Decorado, dir. Alberto Vázquez, (Spain)
The Sunrise File, dir. Rupert Wyatt, Émilie Phuong, (France, Luxembourg)
In Waves, dir. Phuong Mai Nguyen, (France, Belgium)
Lucy Lost, dir. Olivier Clert, (France)
Nobody, dir. Shui Yu, (China)
Tana, dir. Ji Zhao, Ke Er Zhu, (China)
Tangles, dir. Leah Nelson, (Canada, USA)
The Violonist, dir. Ervin Han, Raúl García, (Singapore, Spain, Italy)
We Are Aliens, dir. Kohei Kadowaki, (Japan, France)
Contrechamp
58th, dir. Carl Joseph Papa, (Philippines)
A New Dawn, dir. Yoshitoshi Shinomiya, (Japan, France)
Blaise, dir. Dimitri Planchon, Jean-Paul Guigue, (France)
O filho da puta, dir. Érica Maradona, Otto Guerra, Tania Anaya, Sávio Leite, (Brazil)
Muyi, dir. Julien Chheng, (France)
Pelelui: Guernica of Paradise, dir. Goro Kuji, (Japan)
The Orbit of Minor Satellites, dir. Christopher Sullivan, (Japan)
Spacetime Chronicles, dir. Stefano Bertelli, (Italy)
The Obsessed, dir. Wataru Takahashi, (Japan)
Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope, dir. Beñat Beitia, Elio Quiroga, (Spain, Chile, Argentina)
Welcome to Dolly’s House, dir. Seven Ych, Rady Fu, Tree Muta, (Taiwan)
Works in Progress
A Gwei, dir. Hui Yi, (China)
Baahubali: The Eternal War, dir. Ishan Shukla, (India)
Desechable, dir. Carlos Gómez Salamanca, (Colombia, Spain)
Igi, dir. Natia Nikolashvili, (Georgia, Greece)
Killtube, dir. Kazuaki Kuribayashi, (Japan)
The Wolf, dir. Benjamin Massoubre, Fursy Teyssier, (France, Luxembourg)
Le Projet Shiatsung, dir. Brigitte Archambault, (Canada)
Monkey Quest, dir. David N. Weiss, (Japan, USA)
Ogresse, dir. Cécile McLorin Salvant, (Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, USA)
Snoopy Unleashed, dir. Steve Martino, (Canada, United Kingdom)
Steps, dir. Alyce Tzue, John Ripa, (USA)
Séraphine, dir. Sarah Van Den Boom, (France, Luxembourg, Switzerland)
Astro Boy Reboot, dir. Nicolas Hess, (France, Germany, Japan)
Cars: Lightening Racers, dir. Nathan Chew, Travis Braun, Frank Montagna, (USA)
Common Side Effects, dir. Benjy Brooke, (USA)
Hide and Seek, dir. Fabienne Giezendanner, (Switzerland, France)
Midnight Specials
Company Sports Day, dir. Yong-Seon Lee, (South Korea)
Gregor, dir. Manu Gomez, (Belgium, France)
Sekiro: No Defeat, dir. Kenichi Kutsuna, (Japan)
Soul Shift, dir. Christian Franz Schmidt, (Germany)
Zsazsa Zaturnnah, dir. Avid Liongoren, (Philippines, France)
Annecy Presents
Brave Cat, dir. Gabriel Osorio, (Chile)
Julián, dir. Louise Bagnall, (Ireland)
Born in the Jungle, dir. Edmunds Jansons, (Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic)
Dante, dir. Linda Hambäck, (Sweden, Denmark, Norway)
The Promise of the Clock Tower, dir. Yusuke Hirota, (Japan)
Dudley & the Invasion of the Space Slugs , dir. Cherifa Bakhti, (Luxembourg, Belgium, France, India)
The Ribbon Hero, dir. Yuki Igarashi, (Japan)
La Fille dans les nuages, dir. Philippe Riche, (France, Belgium)
Little Trang Quynh: The Legend of the Golden Buffalo, dir. Tranh Lam Tung, (Vietnam)
The Last Whale Singer, dir. Reza Memari, (Germany, Czech Republic, Canada)
Monster Mia, dir. Verena Fels, (Austria, Spain, Germany)
Samurai Ballerina – L’Étoile de Paris en fleur, dir. Goro Tanigushi, (Japan)
The Keeper of the Camphor Tree, dir. Tomohiko Ito, (Japan)
Yugly, dir. Yanis Belaid, Jérémie Degruson, (Belgium)
WTF
Babyface, (United Kingdom)
Broc!, (Hong Kong)
I’m Glad I Know That Now Thank You: Phones, (United Kingdom)
I Have an I Have a, (United Kingdom)
I’d Rather Be a Concorde, (Belgium, Finland, Portugal)
King Kong vs. Pinocchio, (Canada)
We’re Kinda Different, (Canada)
Pigeon Businessman, (United States)
Six Finger Satellite “Simian Fever”, (United States)
Skin Flick, (France)
Smokedog, (Australia)
You Are Not Part of the Cake, (Taiwan, United Kingdom)
What Is, Is Now?, (The Netherlands)
cour.com, (United Kingdom)
Perspectives
Acid City, (United States)
Bucketman, (Japan)
That Night, (Iran, United States)
Chance, (Iran)
Decaer’s Downfall, (Colombia)
Entelechia, (Chile)
Paper Daughter, (United States)
The Comet, (Canada)
The Boa Woman, (Peru)
The Tribulations of Ajadi, (Nigeria)
Misophonia, (Malta)
Because Today Is Saturday., (Portugal, France, Spain)
Rest, (Japan)
Sundruð, (Iceland, France, Belgium)
Three Pariah Cats, (Colombia)
Once in a Body, (Colombia, United States)
City of Roses, (Brazil)
Off-Limits
Adage, (United Kingdom)
Core Dump, (Germany)
From Apple to Egg, (Estonia)
The Stars Have Been Watching Us for a Long Time, (United States)
Merrimundi, (Chile)
Symbionts, (Switzerland)
XYZ, (Portugal)
Evacuations, (United States)
Young Audience
A Dog’s Life, (The Netherlands)
Round Trip, (Italy)
Cosmonaut, (Switzerland)
En, Ten, Týky!, (Slovakia, Czech Republic)
Night Owls, (Switzerland)
Piccolo Piccolo, (France, Switzerland)
Cloudfish, (France, Belgium)
On the Doormat in Front of My Door, (Germany)
Towards the Forest, (Switzerland)
Being Distanced, (Unknown)
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