A strong delegation of over 200 participants from Ireland (professionals and students) attended the world-renowned Annecy Animation Festival last month. For Animation Ireland, the NTAA and our 40 members, this might have been our busiest MIFA yet, with a busy week on the Ireland stand, where the team facilitated over 66 of meetings (33 hrs) over the four days of the market.
Before travelling to France, Animation Ireland collaborated with the New Zealand Film Commission, Animation Australia, our partners in Japan, the Nordic countries and Canada to create as many possibilities for producers to meet as possible. These events will foster co-production between Ireland and these countries for years to come.
A huge congratulations to Cartoon Saloon who premiered their latest feature film Julián, to Turnip + Duck who were selected to pitch their project ‘Beyond the Leap’ and to Ann Mulrooney, Studio Manager & Sustainability Advisor at Cartoon Saloon, who has been working with the team at Anim’France to beta test the recently localised and translated Carbon Calculator “Carbulator” for Irish studios. This panel brought together key stakeholders to explore the European way of sustainable transformation in animation.
Désirée Finnegan, the CEO of Screen Ireland gave the closing remarks at the inaugural Annecy European Animation Summit and spent some time at the Ireland stand with the Animation Ireland and Talent Academy teams.
Speaking on the events throughout the week, Animation Ireland CEO, Ronan McCabe said, “Whilst 2026 might have been the busiest year, it was definitely the hottest! As a result the air conditioned MIFA venue was a hive of activity all week. It was great to kick off by celebrating the significant anniversaries for our member studios. The pre-arranged activities and meetings enhanced the Annecy experience and the new connections made at the various events will facilitate future co-productions. I would like to thank our sponsors and the Animation Ireland and Talent Academy teams for all their hard work in making this such a productive week.”
Our presence at Annecy would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, Screen Ireland, RTÉ, Northern Ireland Screen, Enterprise Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Animation Ireland team were delighted to support our members at this event and we are currently preparing a detailed report that we will be happy to share upon request.
