The Shorts: The Heart of the Annecy Festival

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which takes place from 8th to 14th June, has announced its competitive selections over the past few weeks: Short Films, Graduation Films, and followed by the TV and Commissioned Films the day before yesterday.

In all, a grand total of 182 works in competition have been revealed, coming from 54 countries and 45% directed by women.

Projection à Bonlieu – Photo : ANNECY FESTIVAL/Q. Trillot

Short Films

On the programme: 72 films from 40 countries from every continent are represented in the various professional short film competition categories.

Artistic Director Marcel Jean describes the 2025 edition as being “a happy mix of newcomers with a host of first works as well as established filmmakers, several of whom have won awards at Annecy.”

35 in the Official category: Official Short Films

This section includes 15 stop-motion films. “The infatuation with this technique is as strong as ever, and we have also seen the return of the pinscreen, with two short films in the Official Selection made using this wonderful instrument,” the Artistic Director delightedly points out.

10 in the Off-Limits category: Off-Limits Short Films

Among all of these 10 bold explorations is Ulu Braun’s Gerhard. For Marcel Jean, “his latest work is an ironic look on creation in the AI era. It is a gritty work that will spark reactions.”

17 in the Perspectives category: Perspectives Short Films

This year’s Perspectives section once again features its batch of political works, including the Ghanaian short film Blinded by the Lights by Francis Y. Brown, which deals with corruption of those in positions of power, the Argentinian film The Mustached Clown Circus, by Ana Comes, Tomás Alzogaray Vanella and Paz Bloj, which stirs up memories of the dictatorship, and Ibuka, Justice, by Justice Rutikara, a deeply personal account of the Rwandan tragedy.

10 in the Young Audiences category: Young Audiences Short Films

“The section for Young Audience is of an extremely high standard, with works of outstanding quality” and, a rare treat due to the demanding nature of this technique, a pinscreen film is among the shortlisted films!­

Graduation Films

We are also giving pride of place to the film talents of the future! This year, 45 films were shortlisted, from 30 different countries, including 6 from France, 4 from Japan and 3 from Poland. The majority of these films (65%) were directed or co-directed by women. The varying techniques used included puppetry, powder animation, drawings on film and many others, which demonstrate the wide variety to be found in animation and the rich creativity of the new generation.

TV and Commissioned Films

The TV Films competition includes 30 films, 28 of which are series and 2 specials, from every continent. For the first time ever, Madagascar and Singapore are included in this selection.

In this edition, a total of 35 films by 13 different nationalities will be in the Commissioned Films competition. This year, Annecy will be shining the spotlight on the Video Clip Geniuses, 8 video clips are in competition, including 6 from France, alongside 8 educational films and 19 commercials.

We see a host of familiar names, including Hungary’s Balázs Turai (Cristal for a Short Film, 2022), India’s Suresh Eriyat (Cristal for a Commissioned Film, 2015), Brazil’s César Cabral (Contrechamp Award, 2021) and France’s Lola Lefevre (Graduation Films Jury Distinction, 2022).

The Official Selection of Feature Films will be revealed, along with some of the 2025 highlights, on 23rd April at the Festival Press Conference.