This year’s highlights include Sylvain Chomet’s highly-anticipated 2D Marcel Pagnol biopic, “A Magnificent Life,” which will be a part of the official competition and released domestically this year through Sony Pictures Classics; sneaks of Andy Serkis’ “Animal Farm” and Genndy Tartakovsky’s R-rated, 2D “Fixed” (streaming on Netflix); and special previews of Disney’s “Zootopia 2,” Pixar’s “Elio,” DreamWorks’ “The Bad Guys 2,” Sony Picture Animation’s “GOAT,” Paramount Animation’s “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants,” and Netflix’s “In Your Dreams.”
Meanwhile, Annecy 2025 introduces a new short film program, Midnight Shorts, and launches the Annecy Dome, a new 32-seat venue for immersive works.
“After a historic 2024 edition, with a record attendance of 17,400 badgeholders, and all this despite a difficult context for the industry, we have worked with renewed determination to make the 2025 edition stronger, open and ambitious — to assist the revival,” Mickaël Marin, CEO of CITIA said in a prepared statement. Marcel Jean, Annecy artistic director, announced the lineup at a press conference on April 23.
Last year, of course, was very eventful for Annecy because it offered Gints Zilbalodis’ “Flow,” the acclaimed 2D feature that earned the Jury Prize and eventually won a historic Oscar for Latvia, as well as Adam Elliot’s Oscar-nominated “Memoir of a Snail.”
However, last year also sparked controversy and debate about the inclusion of generative AI surrounding the Japanese zombie feature “Who Said Death Is Beautiful?”
This year’s in-competition lineup includes the star power of France’s Chomet (the Oscar-nominated “The Illusionist” and “The Triplets of Belleville”), whose 2D rendering of Pagnol re-examines his childhood with the help of his younger self, along with the debut feature of animator Zaven Najjar, who adapts “Allah Is Not Obliged” (Belgium, Canada, France, Luxembourg) from Ahmadou Kourouma’s raw, first-person novel. It’s about about a child soldier during the Liberian Civil War with a unique blend of 2D and CG.
Competing from Japan, meanwhile, are “ChaO,” a humorous anime twist on “The Little Mermaid” from Yasuhiro Aoki, and “The Last Blossom” by Baku Kinoshita, which is set in the yakuza underworld. From China comes “Into the Mortal World” by Zhong Ding, a fantasy adaptation of a mother-daughter classic fairy tale.
In terms of tributes, Honorary Cristals will be awarded to Michel Gondry (who will introduce his animated sequel, “Maya, Give Me Another Title,” continuing the collaboration with his daughter making stop-motion shorts); indie icon Joanna Quinn (“Girls’ Night Out”), and “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening.
Official Competition
- Allah Is Not Obliged. Director: Zaven Najjar (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada)
- The Last Blossom. Director: Baku Kinoshita (Japan)
- Little Amélie or the Character of Rain. Directors: Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han (France)
- Arco. Director: Ugo Bienvenu (France)
- Decorado. Director: Alberto Vázquez (Spain, France)
- Into the Mortal World. Director: Zhong Ding (China)
- Death Does Not Exist. Director: Felix Dufour-Laperrière (Canada, France)
- A Magnificent Life. Director: Sylvain Chomet (France, Luxembourg, Belgium)
- Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake. Director: Irene Iborra (Spain, France, Belgium, Chile)
- Dandelion’s Odyssey. Director: Momoko Seto (France, Belgium)
Contrechamp Competition
- Balentes. Director: Giovanni Columbu (Italy)
- ChaO. Director: Yasuhiro AOKI (Japan)
- Endless Cookie. Directors: Seth and Peter Scriver (Canada)
- Jinsei. Director: Ryuya Suzuki (Japan)
- The Great History of Western Philosophy. Director: Aria Covamonas (Mexico)
- Lesbian Space Princess. Directors: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese (Australia)
- Memory Hotel. Director: Heinrich Sabl (Germany)
- Nimuendaj. Director: Tania Cristina Anaya (Brazil, Peru)
- Olivia & The Clouds. Director: Tomás Pichardo Espaillat (Dominican Republic)
- Space Cadet. Director: Kid Koala (U.S.)
- Tales from the Magic Garden. Directors: David Sukup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar, Jean-Claude Rozec (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, Slovenia)
- The Square. Director: Bo-Sol Kim (South Korea)
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