In Annecy, animated cinema is now allowed all year round – Le Temps

A small sign reminds us that right here, there was a stable which could house 36 horses. “Hygiene and comfort were permanent concerns which ensured the good health of the stallions,” it is stated. We are in the former Annecy stud farm, in the heart of the Haute-Savoie prefecture. It was built in 1880, closed in 2005 and was listed as a historic monument in 2007. After seven years of construction that Antoine Armand, the mayor of Annecy, described as “pharaonic”, will open the Cité Internationale du Cinéma d’Animation (CITIA) here on June 19.

As a reminder, Annecy has hosted the largest animated film festival in the world since 1960. The 2026 edition will be held from June 21 to 27. 140,000 spectators are expected and 15,000 professionals from around a hundred countries are invited. “It’s the third film festival after Cannes and Berlin,” says Martial Saddier, the president of the Haute-Savoie departmental council. New: if the screenings will take place like every year at the Bonlieu space and outside on the Pâquier, some will take place in the new Cité, which has been equipped with a modular room with 332 seats, financed by the department, which is the owner, amounting to 19 million euros.

The total cost of the rehabilitation of the City amounts to 55 million euros, mainly borne by the city of Annecy. In addition to the projection room, the new 2.7 hectare space which will be open to the public includes a museum, two temporary exhibition rooms, an artist’s residence, a vast wooded park and a hall dedicated to local gastronomy. La Cité also offers workshops to learn how to do animation. “Thanks to this permanent venue, Annecy will become the unmissable global event for animated films throughout the year,” insists Dominique Puthod, president of CITIA, the public establishment which organizes the festival.

“Fantasmagorie”, 1908 cartoon

Stop at the museum (450 m²), open in the old stables. On a screen, a horse is galloping. A wink, obviously. An emblematic animal of the place, the horse occupies a central place in the very origins of cinema. Homage to Eadweard Muybridge, a precursor of cinema, who in the 19th century has photographically broken down animal locomotion, thus marking a decisive step forward in the history of animated images. “The journey invites immersion since the birth of animation. The visitor will discover the foundations and diversity of style of animated cinema,” summarizes Dominique Puthod.

Illustration with the Pin Screen invented in 1932 by filmmakers Alexandre Alexeïff and Claire Parker, an instrument which allows animated films to be created by the play of light on thousands of steel points which pass through a clear surface. We can see Phantasmagoriathe first cinematic cartoon directed by Emile Cohl and first screened in 1908 in Paris. Using a camera fixed on a vertical axis, the French director photographed his drawings one after the other and shows us Puppeta little man represented with a simple line.

The animograph, a funny machine

A line like the more recent one (1969) by Osvaldo Cavandoli, called La Linea, with this legendary grumpy and mocking character, with an imposing nose and a body as well as his environment materialized by a single line. The Shadoks also made the trip to Annecy. They arrived on French television one evening in 1968. Plump birds with spindly legs, more stupid than evil, created by Jacques Rouxel. The first season was animated on the animograph, a funny machine that the City presents.

A leap in time and into another dimension: the former Manège hosts the temporary exhibition Ankama, named after the famous studios based in Roubaix which are at the origin of the series Dedicated et Dofus. From June 19 to January 31, 2027, visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the world of Krosmoz. The public will be able to discover the process of creating a work of animation, the art of video games and the nuances of a world and its characters. LAIKA studios are also in the spotlight until September 27, 2026. They are at the origin of the feature films Coraline, Norman’s strange powerTHE Boxtrolls.

For the occasion, LAIKA will lift the veil on its next film with the unique exhibition Wildwood. “Our film celebrates the primacy of art over algorithms and the belief that hand-made films can be bold, surprising and alive,” says Travis Knight, director of Wildwood.

International city of animated cinema, opening June 19. Annecy International Animated Film Festival, from June 21 to June 27.