Animation Speaks Every Language: How Annecy 2025 Became the Voice of a Multipolar World

Once seen as a niche form or a genre for children, animation has become the global language of cultural imagination—and nowhere is that more visible than at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, whose 2025 edition may go down as a turning point.

Held in the quiet lakeside town of Annecy, France, the festival was anything but quiet. It brought together voices from Lebanon, Japan, Ghana, Iran, Brazil, China, and France—not just in attendance, but in competition, in headlines, and in awards.

This year, animation didn’t just entertain—it testified, protested, and dreamed.

🌍 A Polyphonic Lineup

The Cristal for Best Feature went to Arco, a melancholic, visually arresting French dystopia directed by Ugo Bienvenu and produced by Natalie Portman. But just as talked-about were films far outside the Western canon.

Lebanese director Nour Abi Nakhoul’s All This Death—a haunting short about diaspora, loss, and laughter in wartime—was met with both ovation and tears. Iranian short By the Way, created in exile, used minimalist brushstrokes to evoke censorship and memory. Meanwhile, Japan and China co-produced Into the Mortal World, blending Taoist philosophy with sci-fi absurdism.

Annecy didn’t just show diversity—it curated clashing aesthetics. Hand-drawn films stood next to AI-enhanced works. Traditional folklore collided with internet-era sarcasm. The result was not unity, but an exhilarating friction.

✊ Animation as Political Witness

Beyond form, content mattered. Many of the standout works grappled with themes too hot for live-action: political repression, gender-based violence, climate trauma. Animation, with its abstraction and fluidity, offered a layer of safety—and subversion.

It’s no coincidence that many of these works came from regions where free expression is under threat. At Annecy, these stories could speak freely. That act alone made the festival more than an art event—it made it a cultural refuge.

🤖 The AI Factor: Friend or Colonizer?

AI-generated sequences were present, and not without controversy. Some filmmakers used AI tools to assist frame transitions, simulate camera movement, or generate surreal textures. But others pushed back, raising concerns about visual plagiarism and erasure of labor.

Annecy hosted several panels on the ethics of AI in animation. The consensus? AI must serve vision, not replace it. In a medium defined by meticulous craft, the soul of animation still lives in the imperfections.

💡 More Than a Festival

Annecy 2025 also positioned itself as a global incubator. Pitch sessions for African animated series drew massive interest from Netflix, Arte, and HBO Max. Workshops brought together first-time animators from the Global South with seasoned producers. This was not charity—it was co-creation.

In an era of political fragmentation, animation offers common ground. It can cross borders without translation, evoke emotion without dialogue, and build worlds we’ve never seen—yet instantly understand.

At Annecy, animation didn’t escape reality. It reimagined it.