Animest Heads to Annecy 2026

The Animest team is once again joining the world’s biggest animation gathering at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and its market, MIFA.

Representing Animest this year are festival director Mihai Mitrică, international relations manager and programmer Ligia Soare, and festival producer Helga Fodorean.

You can find them at MIFA at the Animation Festival Network booth #F.12, alongside the other AFN member festivals, from June 23 to 26 (daily 09:00–19:00 and 09:00–17:00 on the last day). Drop by to say hi, learn more about our programs and festivals, share your films with us or grab some cool merch.

Mihai Mitrică and Ligia Soare will also take part in the “Meet the... Festival Programmers” event, where animation professionals can book one-on-one meetings with festival representatives. Book your meeting with them ASAP!

On Wednesday, June 24, Animest (through AFN) joins partners from CEE Animation, the Polish Animation, and Baltic Film and Creative Tech Cluster, for the Animation Garden Party at Imperial Garden Palace.

 Mihai Mitrică and Ligia Soare will also participate in the 9th Meeting of Animation Festival Directors during Annecy 2026.

Animest is also co-organising the Black Sea Animation Pitch, where Romanian filmmaker Alina Gheorghe will present her project Guilty Silence. The project was developed at Animestduring Pitch, Please! 2025, where it won participation in the Black Sea Animation Workshop, leading to its selection for the Annecy pitch alongside projects from Bulgaria, Ukraine, Turkiye, and Georgia. The Romanian participation is supported by the French Institute in Romania.

We are also proud to support the Romanian presence at Annecy this year. Motherhood, directed by Anca Damian, screens in the international short film competition #5 as a Belgium-France-Romania co-production.

Romanian producers are also present in the official MIFA Pitches with two exciting projects: Killin’ It, directed by Balázs Turai and produced in Romania by Helga Fodorean, and Georgeta, directed by Sybil Marzin and produced in Romania by Mihai Mitrică - both projects developed under Safe Frame.

The projects will be presented on June 25, at 10:30, in Salle de la Volière.

Another project developed through Pitch, Please!, Oleg Condrea’s The Girl From the Shadow, can be discovered at the Moldova booth (B.25), where Oleg will also be present throughout MIFA.

See you in Annecy!