The Annecy festival will continue to grow even as the wider animation sector contracts — a tension set to define this year’s Marché International du Film d’Animation (MIFA), which runs June 23-26.
“What people call an animation crisis is, at root, a financing crisis,” says MIFA director Véronique Encrenaz. “When you look at how the market is evolving, and at the number of new countries arriving with increasingly large delegations, the future for animation is promising. The challenge is simply finding new funding sources.”
To that end, MIFA is doubling down on its Cross IP Area, encouraging studios to bridge production, video games and publishing, while bringing in those who have successfully done so to share their strategies. The conversation begins even before the market opens, with a daylong workshop on June 22, and continues on the floor through a dedicated space and a slate of accelerator programs.
That pre-market conference will also take a hard look at AI, examining its technological, legal and artistic implications. The stakes are high, as generative tools and pipeline innovations are reshaping the industry at a high speed. “Our philosophy is artist-first, AI second,” Encrenaz says. “The question is how to integrate these tools without undermining the artist’s place.”
Under parent organization CITIA, the festival and market continue to reinforce one another — a structural advantage in a volatile landscape. But relevance now requires a good degree of agility.
“Simply facilitating buying and selling is no longer enough — that can happen online,” Encrenaz says. “What makes a physical market essential is bringing people together to identify trends, understand audiences and move forward collectively. New countries are arriving for exactly that reason.”
The evidence is visible across Asia: Vietnam returns for its second year, while Singapore makes its debut; delegates from Thailand and Malaysia are arriving in greater numbers, with Indonesia likely to follow.
Japan, meanwhile, offers a more mature industry. While exports are at record highs, the domestic biz faces labor shortages, demographic decline and a younger generation pushing back against entrenched models — pressures that are opening the door to co-production. Annecy is poised to capitalize, spotlighting Franco-Japanese titles like “We Are Aliens” and “A New Dawn” while structuring its market to foster partnerships, with Japanese pavilions now grouped together alongside dedicated meeting spaces.
Such concentration remains a powerful draw.
“We’ve had a booth at Annecy for years because the ROI is real,” says Shea Wageman, president and CEO of Icon Creative Studio. “MIFA is unique because it’s not just a market — it’s the one place where the entire global animation ecosystem is in the same room: broadcasters, streamers, financiers and co-production partners. The density of decision-makers is unmatched.”
That same density, however, is beginning to strain the host city. Annecy the event risks outgrowing Annecy the town, with organizers already introducing a shuttle system linking the center to accommodations father away.
“We want the festival to integrate into local life, not disrupt it,” says CITIA CEO Mickaël Marin. “The osmosis between the city, its residents and festivalgoers is unique — and we have to protect it. If the festival ever became a burden for locals, we would have failed.”
The long-awaited opening of its new hub, Cité Internationale du Cinéma d’Animation, points toward a different model, with a museum, production hub, cinema and conference space set to anchor animation in the city year-round, dispersing the festival’s energy beyond a single week.
“I’m only half-joking when I say the sun never sets on Annecy,” Marin adds. “Through partnerships, screenings and support for artists, there isn’t a week without activity somewhere in the world.”
“The Cité is symbolic,” he continues. “It will be the first place entirely dedicated to animation cinema in all its forms — all techniques, all countries of origin. As I tell our guests, Annecy used to be your home one week a year. With the Cité, it becomes your home every day.”