Pourquoi le cinéma d’animation est un des arts les plus passionnants du moment
Beaux Arts Magazine reports on the growing significance of animation cinema, highlighting the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and its upcoming 2026 edition, which will inaugurate the Cité internationale du cinéma d'animation, transforming the event into a permanent institution. The festival, which has grown from 7,000 to over 18,000 accredited attendees from 118 countries in a decade, has made Annecy a global hub for animation. The article also notes recent French successes like "Flow," "Arco," and "Amélie et la métaphysique des tubes," positioning France as Europe's leading animation power with nearly 120 active studios and prestigious schools such as Gobelins, École Méliès, and La Poudrière.
This matters because animation has emerged as one of the most dynamic laboratories for contemporary image-making, absorbing influences from video games while renewing appreciation for hand-drawn techniques and materiality. The article argues that animation is not a genre but a set of techniques encompassing all cinematic genres, a view championed by figures like Guillermo del Toro. At a pivotal moment when artificial intelligence is reshaping the industry, animation serves as a convergence point where the images of tomorrow are being invented, making the Annecy festival's permanent expansion a significant development for the global visual arts landscape.