Unifrance and French animation at the Annecy Film Festival and at MIFA 2024

03 JUNE 2024

At the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Unifrance is proud to unite all French professionals under the same banner – whether they come from the cinema, audiovisual, short film or immersive creation sectors – and to host a conference in partnership with Europa International (the network of European exporters) about the distribution of animated films in Africa, as well as a morning dedicated to XR and immersive works.

Find out more about the organization's program for this not-to-be-missed event, as well as the full French lineup in all the selections.

Unifrance's activities at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival

The Unifrance stand

The Unifrance stand at the MIFA will be located at stand number G18. This stand will be available free of charge to Unifrance members for their meetings.

Unifrance x Europa International conference: "The state of international distribution for independent films in Africa."

Wednesday, June 12, from 9.15 am to 10.30 am - Venue: Imperial Palace - Rotonde de l'Europe

The conference will bring together representatives of African film and audiovisual distribution companies, specializing in animation, to share their expertise of the African film market and give examples of successful distribution of international audiovisual works on the continent. With a particular focus on animation, the panelists will share their film exhibition experience and express their vision of the future of international film distribution in Africa.

Conference moderated by Daniela Elstner, Executive Director of Unifrance
Participants:

Chioma Ude, founder and director of AFRIFF - the Africa International Film Festival (Nigeria)
Jeff Schon, CEO and co-founder, Akili Network (Kenya)
Sébastien Onomo, president and producer, Special Touch Studios (France)

Annecy XR x Unifrance in the Espace XR & Games morning

Venue: Espace XR & Games at the Chambre de Métiers et de l’Artisanat, 28 avenue de France.

9.15 am to 10.30 am: WIP XR Pagnol le magicien (photo below)

10.30 am to 12.00 pm: Showroom XR – Access to selected works reserved for guests.

12.00 pm to 1.00 pm: "Animation and immersive works, an association that travels far" panel

Conversation with Arnaud Colinart about Atlas V's co-productions combining XR and animation, and their trajectories on the international scene.
Conversation with Aurélien Dirler about the links between France and Taïwan,and the structuring of an industrial partnership which, with Colored by Tania De Montaigne, Stéphane Foenkinos, and Pierre-Alain Giraud, received the Palme d’Or for Best Immersive Work at Cannes this year.
Presentation by a representative of the French cultural network abroad on initiatives in the field of animation, video games, and immersive experiences.
Presentation of export support initiatives implemented by the CNC, Institut Français, and Unifrance.

Speakers:

Arnaud Colinart, producer and co-founder of Atlas V
Aurélien Dirler, audiovisual and digital policy advisor to the president of TAICCA
Hannah Loué, project manager – digital and audiovisual creation, department of artistic creation and cultural industries – Institut français
Laurence Reymond, Short film and XR project manager – Unifrance

"Voices of French Animation" video clips

The Unifrance team will be conducting a series of interviews with the teams behind the French films in competition (shorts, features, series, and VR). The aim of these videos is to raise awareness of the leading figures in French animation today.
Find all the interviews on our social networks during the festival.

Brochure: "Unifrance supports French animation abroad"

The "Unifrance supports French animation abroad" brochure (in French only), available for download below by clicking on the image, offers a series of key figures relating to French animation on the international scene.

French animation at the Annecy Film Festival

Audiences in Annecy will have the opportunity to discover six French-produced or co-produced feature films in Competition, and a further six in Special Screenings.

The French audiovisual sector is also well represented, with seven French TV series or specials in the competition dedicated to this genre.

Once again, the festival selection showcases the full diversity of French animated short films, with 32 French titles in several categories, not including audiovisual works.

Five immersive works complete this fine French presence.

In addition to the selections in Competition, there are also presentations of French projects in development or production. Projects with at least one French producer are in the majority (12 out of 21) among the works presented in the Work In Progress section this year..

All the WIP productions at the MIFA can be found here.

Last but not least, French projects are not left out of the MIFA pitch sessions, with a total of 17 French projects, including six feature films, five shorts, four TV series and specials, and two digital experiences.

All the pitch projects at the MIFA can be found here.