Annecy/MIFA 2023 finishes today with the last activities of a very busy week, which started on Sunday 11 with the animation festival and since Tuesday 13 with the MIFA market. Numbers? According to the organization, about 15.000 people attended the whole event, a significant growth of 15% compared to 2022 edition. There were 468 film screenings. Conclusions? There is a lot of future about animation, but adding new roads: digital platforms, adults, disruptive genres, formats and business models.

The growth must not surprise, considering that in the summer 2022, many people have still not returned to in-person events from pandemic. The 2023 edition set up the return of Asia, for instance, that was absent one year ago and now was protagonist with many national entities, events and pitch sessions. But it is not only this. To choose Mexico as the official guest country, pushed many Latins to come. Just from Mexico, there were 60 studios which brought 150 professionals And above all, people need networking, all the events after Covid have fresh energy.

Main trends? More animation for adults, promoted by the digital platforms as it was seen yesterday at the Warner Bros Discovery presentation; more racial and gender inclusion in the new productions; more relevance of the National organizations -French Unifrance, Spanish ICEX and AFS, Argentine INCAA, Korean KOCCA and Taiwan’s TAICCA from Asia- to promote networking and to reduce costs of medium producers going international. And as we said at MIPTV and LA Screenings, this is a time for alliances, co-productions, collaborations. In animation more than in other segments.

Highlights of the last day? If Netflix and Disney+ had conferences the previous journeys, this was the time for Max, the new name of HBOMax from WBD. Suzanna Makko, EVP original comedy and adult animation: ‘We’ve always looked for hard comedy with heart and edge, diverse and inclusive shows with underlying thematic resonance, and character design that showcases the hand of the artist. We’ll continue very much on these’.

Luca Milano, executive director at RAI Kids, stressed the role of public free tv at the moment: ‘From 2021 to 2022 the Kids TV Channels had 120 million views in the non-linear platform, making an increase of 43%. RAI’s 42 shows are in the top 50 rating charts, and currently, we are working with 35 different production companies’.

Last days there were Spain and Taiwanese pitch sessions, yesterday South Korean and Ukranian delegations introduced 5 animation titles each. Tips beyond tittles? Korean producers continue pushing ‘out of the box’ pieces, with good tech ingredients and speed, as Japan. Ukraine pushes emotions, good value stories, important now considering the war.

Something to finish? Bruno Zarka, president TV division at Toonz (France/India): ‘There are opportunities both on production and finish products, now you need to manage smarter the windows, because more stages of business take relevance. And there is space for new lines of products if you are innovative, respecting the basics. It depends on you to get better, which is very important’.

Mariano Gutiérrez y Alberto Buitron

| ANNECY/MIFFA Daily News

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