While the opening night ceremony of Annecy took a political turn, that was nothing compared to tonight’s closing ceremony, which had a somber tone impacted by recent events in the Middle East.
In the time between Annecy’s opening and closing ceremony, Israel launched an attack on yet another country in the Middle East, this time Iran, and Annecy’s artistic director Marcel Jean set the tone for the ceremony by acknowledging the new war upfront. It was especially poignant as two of festival’s jury members this year were Iranian women, and many Iranian animators and filmmakers in attendance at the festival are currently stranded in France and unable to return to Iran.
Said Jean:
As we celebrated our screenings, missiles rained down on our beloved Iran. While art lit up the screens, fear lit up the skies back home. Some of the invited Iranian directors are now stranded, unsure when or if they can return. Airlines have canceled flights, borders are closing, time stands still. Our families and friends are living through terror they never deserved. No human being should ever have to ever face bombs, instead of safety; fire instead of peace. We want to be with our loved ones, in our own homes, in our own country.
The oldest-known example of animation was found on a 5,000-year old piece of pottery in Iran…a testament to how deeply our identity is tied to creativity. We did not choose these wars; we are tired of carrying the weight of destruction we did not create. Let us live; let us go home; stop the bombs.
Jean’s statement was followed by a minute-long standing ovation from the full house of nearly one thousand people in the Bonlieu’s Grand Salle, which can be viewed below:
Annecy festival declares their support for beloved Iran and calls out Israel to stop the bombs #AnnecyFestival pic.twitter.com/zKlOo0TJ1V
— Zak 🌹 (@ZakRed567) June 14, 2025
Later in the evening, Iranian feature film jury member Sepideh Farsi spoke to the audience via video about the subject of her new documentary, Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with nine members of her family one day after Farsi’s film was selected to screen at Cannes. Said Farsi:
There are quite a few conflicts ongoing. One of them is particularly monstrous. That is the ongoing genocide in Gaza. For one year, I worked for Fatma Hassouna. She was killed two months ago in an Israeli airstrike targeting her house with all her family. I had made a promise to her to go to Gaza to meet her once the war was over. I haven’t been able to keep that promise, but I’ll try to do something that would be meaningful, because we need to break this blockade and to stop this war.
Farsi proceeded to read a poem from a young Palestinian girl who had shared her feelings with Hassouna before she was killed. Farsi’s speech drew another standing ovation and shouts of “Free Palestine” throughout the theater.
Closing ceremony pays tribute to Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna who was killed by Israel recently.
The audience gives an emotional standing ovation and shouts Free Palestine #AnnecyFestival pic.twitter.com/04WQOZuEyq
— Zak 🌹 (@ZakRed567) June 14, 2025
Still later in the evening, the other Iranian jury member, Shiva Sadegh Asadi, who was on the short film jury, read a piece by twenty-something poet Parnia Abbasi, who, along with her family, was killed on Friday in Tehran as a result of Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of civilians:
Iranian Jury member calls out Israel’s crimes against humanity and reads a poem to dedicate to the lost lives of Iran #AnnecyFestival pic.twitter.com/baCypmrw3C
— Zak 🌹 (@ZakRed567) June 14, 2025
In spite of the sad undertones dampening this year’s ceremony, there were plenty of awards to hand out and filmmakers to celebrate. The feature film awards were incredible diverse this year with no film winning more than once in the main categories. Seven different films won awards, with the top prizes going to Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco (Cristal for a Feature Film) and Pete and Seth Scriver’s Endless Cookie (Contrechamp Grand Prix, which honors edgier and quirkier features that might otherwise not receive the attention they deserve).
Neon has already acquired North American distribution rights to the fantasy film Arco, which is set in the year 2075 and follows a lost time-traveling boy in a rainbow-suit from the year 2932 who befriends a 10-year-old girl. The film premiered out of competition last month at Cannes and is backed by Natalie Portman, who is not only voicing a character but also producing the film. There’s tons of momentum behind the film right now — Cannes, Neon, Natalie Portman, Annecy winner — so keep an eye on Arco as we head into the fall awards season.
On the short side, the top Cristal was awarded to The Night Boots by veteran stop-motion animator Pierre-Luc Granjon, who has directed numerous shorts in addition to co-directing the feature The Inventor. Granjon’s film picked up two other significant awards throughout the evening: the audience award for short film and the André Martin Award for a French short film.
The Night Boots’s synopsis: “In the middle of the night, while his parents are entertaining friends, a child slips on his wellington boots and sneaks off into the woods. There, a strange solitary creature leads him into the heart of the forest to meet the nocturnal inhabitants.” Granjon’s twelve-and-a-half-minute film was made using a vintage pinscreen, the animation tool invented in the 1930s by animator Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker.
Michael Granberry’s Ladislas Starevich-inspired stop-motion film Les Bêtes won the jury award for short film. Granberry was the only American to win in the main shorts categories. It’s about a mysterious rabbit with a set of magic keys who summons a host of strange creatures to entertain a wicked king and his decadent court.
In his acceptance speech, Granberry championed the role of artists during this dark period of history, stating, “This art form attracts people who carry a very unique, beautiful fire in them that shines a light that the world desperately, desperately needs right now. Do not be afraid of the dark, the sickness of hate, because we are the cure.”
Another notable American winner: the top prize for a tv production went to Shaddy Safadi’s Christo The Civilized Barbarian. It’s an especially interesting choice because the project, from Santa Monica-based One Pixel Brush, is an online series made with a small crew and budget, and it managed to beat out a variety of high-profile studio productions including Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, Devil May Cry, Common Side Effects, and Astérix & Obélix. The winning episode can be viewed below:
The top commissioned film was French animator Lola Lefèvre and her music video “Ye Kou Si Kuo,” produced for Naive New Beaters and Star Feminine Band. It’s a project that we’ve written enthusiastically about in the past, and we’re excited to see that Lefèvre is currently pitching a series project inspired by this video.
A full list of winners from this year’s festival is below:
2025 Annecy Festival Award Winners
Feature Films
Cristal for a Feature Film
Arco, Ugo Bienvenu (France)
Jury Award
ChaO, Yasuhiro Aoki (Japan)
Paul Grimault Award
Dandelion’s Odyssey (Planètes), Momoko Seto (France, Belgium)
Gan Foundation Award for Distribution
Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, Irene Iborra (Belgium, Chile, France, Spain)
Contrechamp Grand Prix
Endless Cookie, Seth Scriver, Pete Scriver (Canada)
Contrechamp Jury Award
The Square, Bo-Sol Kim (South Korea)
Audience Award
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han (France)
Short Films
Cristal for a Short Film
The Night Boots, Pierre-Luc Granjon (France)
Jury Award
Les Bêtes, Michael Granberry (U.S.)
Alexeïeff – Parker Award
Sappho, Rosana Urbes (Brazil)
Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for a First Film
Murmuration,, Janneke Swinkels, Tim Frijsinger (Netherlands, Belgium)
Off-Limits Award
The Graffiti Ryo Orikasa (Japan)
Audience Award
The Night Boots, Pierre-Luc Granjon (France)
TV Films
Cristal for a TV Production
Christo The Civilized Barbarian “Hunting Party”, Shaddy Safadi (U.S.)
Jury Award for a TV Series
Lena’s Farm “Volles Nest”, Elena Walf (Germany)
Jury Award for a TV Special
An Almost Christmas Story, David Lowery (U.S.)
Audience Award
Freaked Out “Major Decision”, Théo Grosjean, Mothy Richard (Belgium, France)
Commissioned Films
Cristal for a Commissioned Film
Naive New Beaters, Star Feminine Band “Ye Kou Si Kuo”, Lola Lefevre (France)
Jury Award for a Commissioned Film
Desi Oon, Suresh Eriyat (India)
Graduation Films
Cristal for a Graduation Film
Zootrope Léna Martinez (ENSAD, France)
Jury Award
Between the Gaps Martin Bonnin (La Poudrière, France)
Lotte Reiniger Award
Q Masataka Kihara (Tama Art University, Japan)
VR Works
Cristal for a VR Work
Fragile Home, Ondrej Moravec, Victoria Lopukhina (Czech Republic)
Special Prizes
France TV Award for a Short Film
At Night, Pooya Afzali (Iran)
City of Annecy Award
Ibuka, Justice, Justice Rutikara (Japan)
City of Annecy Jury Special Distinction
Psychonauts, Niko Radas (Croatia)
Festivals Connexion Award for a VR Work
Fragile Home, Ondrej Moravec, Victoria Lopukhina (Czech Republic)
André Martin Award for a French Short Film
The Night Boots, Pierre-Luc Granjon (France)
SACEM Award for Best Original Soundtrack in a Feature Film
Arnaud Toulon for Arco (France)
Jury Distinction for Original Soundtrack in a Feature Film
Jean L’Appeau for Death Does Not Exist (Canada, France)
SACEM Award for Best Original Soundtrack in a Short Film
Sebastian Hilli for Dollhouse Elephant (Finland)
Young Audience Award
The Great Annual Party of the Creatures of the Moon, Francis Desharnais (Canada)
Canal+ Junior Jury Award
Forevergreen, Nathan Engelhardt, Jeremy Spears (U.S.)
Vimeo Staff Pick Award for a Short Film in the Official and Off-Limits Categories
Les Bêtes, Michael Granberry (U.S.)
XPPen Award for a Graduation Film
Won’t Be Here, Jiali Tan, Haoyuan Zhu (China)
