The Annecy Festival Residency provides a tailor-made offer to each of the selected projects, in an inspiring and stimulating ecosystem, as well as connecting with esteemed mentors in the animation sector.
The selected authors will spend three months fully immersed in their projects, receiving assistance from mentors and CITIA teams as they work on developing their graphic universes. This time will allow them to reflect and experiment creatively. Their focus will be on the upcoming Festival and the Mifa, where they will showcase all their work.
The 2025 edition of the Annecy Festival Residency has feature an impressive array of talent, with 36 submissions from 20 different nationalities. Notably, 44% of the projects are led by women, highlighting the diverse perspectives being brought to the table.
The winning projects
The selection committee was made up of animation industry professionals from various backgrounds, so they could provide a cross-disciplinary view on the projects. The 2025 edition included: Aurel (Illustrator, Director), Vanessa Buttin-Labarthe (Producer, Les Astronautes), Amandine Fredon (Director), Stéphane Kazandjian (Screenwriter) and Valérie Yendt (Distributor, Gebeka Films).
The selection committee stated:
The 3 projects selected this year all have one thing in common: they are all about personal, sensitive and moving stories that all reflect our modern society from a historical and cultural perspective. The committee was particularly struck by the power of these proposals and their timeless, universal appeal. […] Their diverse content and approaches will be great resources to challenge and stimulate each other’s work.
Father’s Letters
Author/Director: Alexey EVSTIGNEEV (Russia)
Graphic Artist: Dasha DOROFEEVA (Russia)
Producers: Clémence CRÉPIN NEEL and Igor COURTECUISSE (moderato, France)
In 1934, Professor Vangengheim is arrested in Moscow and sent to the Gulag Archipelago of the Solovki Islands. To protect his daughter, little Elya, from the reality of the regime and the Stalinist purges, he decides to let her believe, through his letters, that he has gone on an expedition. But the journey drags on. As the months of captivity go by, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the illusion and preserve the magical world of childhood.
Kigali Night
Director/Co-screenwriter: Samuel LAJUS (France)
Artistic Director: Xavier COSTE (France)
Co-screenwriter: Romy COCCIA DI FERRO (Italy/Lebanon)
Early screenwriting assistance: Grégoire POLET (Belgium)
Producers: Jérôme DUC-MAUGE (Parmi Les Lucioles, France), Virginie CHAPELLE and Samuel TILMAN (Eklektik productions, Belgium)
Samuel is 23 when he arrives as an audiovisual presenter at the French Cultural Centre in Kigali. During the 18 months he spends in Rwanda, the warning signs multiply, but Samuel chooses to ignore them. Everything he is told seems impossible to him: his country, France, could not possibly support such a regime. But this climate does not stop him from enjoying the country and partying. Then gradually his convictions begin to falter. This account takes place two years before the genocide, a time that is rarely, if ever, discussed. However, it is during this period that everything falls into place.
Kolaval
Director/Co-creator: Karla VELÁZQUEZ (Mexico)
Author/Co-creator: Adrian SALDAÑA (Mexico)
Producers: Julián SÁNCHEZ, Cristina CUEVAS, Nidia SANTIAGO and Edwina LIARD (Ikki Films, France)
In a small village, as the only hope to stop a violent invasion in her village, a 12-year-old warrior born into a family of embroiderers will be forced to marry. But, believing in the legends her grandmother tells, she decides to run away and venture into an ancestral forest where she finds more than she expected: an ancient goddess’ secret power that she uses to unravel the disaster threatening her village and weave a better life.
The winning writers
The writers of these future animated feature films who will be joining the Annecy Residency from April this year are Samuel Lajus (Director and Co-Screenwriter of Kigali Night), Xavier Coste (Artistic Director of Kigali Night), Alexey Evstigneev (Director of Father’s Letters), and Karla Velázquez (Director & Co-creator of Kolaval).
With backing from the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Département de la Haute-Savoie, Drac and the CNC, CITIA, organiser of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the Mifa, pledges its commitment to animation feature film writers by giving them privileged support, the time and a place to create, to network, to provide increased visibility, and to have project follow-up.
