At the Annecy international animation film festival in France, four Ukrainian works – Iryna Tsylyk, Maria Yanko, Natalia Velikanova, as well as a joint project of Ondrzej Moravets and Victoria Lopukhina – were recognized in several competitive and individual sections. About this it is said on the official website of the festival.
Iryna Tsylyk with the documentary project “The Red Zone” won the “Mifa Pitches – Feature Films” category, receiving the Ciclic Prize. She was awarded a grant in the amount of 25,000 euros and given the opportunity to complete a two-month animation residency in the French city of Vendome. Her tape tells about an ordinary day in Kyiv during the war.
Maria Janko became the laureate of the ARTE France Prize in the “Mifa Pitches – Short Films” category. Her animated film Kateryna shows how a full-scale invasion is portrayed on social media. The tape is planned to be purchased by the ARTE TV channel for showing in the “Court-circuit” program, which is dedicated to auteur cinema and new voices in European animation.
Nataliya Velikanova presented the project “Damned”, dedicated to the consequences of ecocide after the explosion of the Kakhovskaya HPP in 2023. He won the Weird Market Prize in the “Mifa Pitches — Immersive Experiences” category and was invited to participate in the 17th Weird Market in Valencia (Spain), which will take place from September 30 to October 5, 2025.
Ondrzej Moravec and Viktoria Lopukhina won the VR Works category, receiving the Cristal award for the Best VR Work for the project “Fragile House”, which transports viewers into the space of a house, which later turns into a dangerous zone.
Also, as part of the Black Sea Animation Projects pitching, dedicated to projects from the Black Sea region, Ukraine presented the feature short film “Memory Murals” directed by Oleksandra Dzhiganska, which explores the theme of memory, personal memories and a sense of belonging.
Annecy International Animation Film Festival is held annually in France. From 1960 to 1998, the festival was held once every two years.
