By MICKAËL MARIN
CEO of CITIA
Annecy International Animation Film Festival

Annecy seems thoroughly determined to stand its ground as animated cinema’s radiating center

With this single goal in mind, for nearly a year the CITIA team has been rallying to welcome the animation film community, betwixt lake and mountains. Since the 2019 edition and its impressive turnout, the path forward has been long and bumpy, and in spite of everything is still strewn with uncertainty.

If Annecy 2020 was the epitome of resilience, Annecy 2021 will be that of combat. And is there any more noble battle than fighting to reposition Culture at the core of our existences? Is there any more illustrious hope than that of extolling works and their authors again, under the best possible conditions? Annecy seems thoroughly determined to stand its ground as animated cinema’s radiating center.

All hail to those like us who never gave up and placed their trust in this project. We’re thinking of the CITIA team, of course, and their resolve to see Annecy and its cinemas once again thrumming with life. We’re also thinking of our partners, both institutional and private, steadfast at our sides even when the going is rough.

But we send our regards, as well, to all professionals and artists worldwide who with their many expressions of support have encouraged us so much these past few months. This invisible thread binding generations of animation lovers has never snapped, and this unprecedented crisis might even – who knows – have reinforced the “yearning for Annecy”.

Lastly, if today Annecy is the world animation film capital that we know, let’s not forget the pioneers who, in 1960, cradled the destiny of this infant festival in the “Venice of the Alps”. And we must also remember those who strove one after another, year after year, to turn this festival into an annual and unmissable event.

Annecy 2021 will be an opportunity to thank them and to wander down memory lane through this singular history that owes nothing to chance but is the fruit of a far-reaching cultural policy and vision. While this past both honors and enthralls us, we are also turned toward the future with – for the first time – a tribute to African animation and especially to the young talents raising it up.

May this edition of the Festival and Mifa – the very first hybrid one – allow us to meet again and to glory in all the things we have missed so dearly.

Long live animation cinema, long live Annecy!