Annecy / MIFA 2024 ends today with the last activities after a very intense week, which began Sunday June 9 with the animation festival and from Tuesday 11 with the MIFA market. According to the organization, approximately 16,000 people attended the entire Annecy Festival, including some 6,000 professionals who attended MIFA, a 5% growth compared to the 2023 edition, which was already booming. More than 300 films were screened. The conclusions are that there is much future in animation, but adding new paths, digital platforms, adults, genres, formats and disruptive business models.

The growth is not surprising, considering that last year many people returned to face-to-face events after the post-pandemic editions. The 2024 edition had Portugal as the official guest country, which encouraged many Ibero-American producers to come. The event was attended by delegations from Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Canada, in addition to delegations from different French regions, Spain, Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Italy, Portugal, United Kingdom, Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan.

Main trends? It is clear that the market is going through a moment of alliances, co-productions and collaborations. This is more noticeable in animation than in other segments. Although there was a sharp drop in funding for animation this year, the mood during the event was a little low because of this. However, there was greater relevance of national organizations (Unifrance, ICEX, KOCCA and TAICCA) to promote networking, reduce internationalization costs for medium-sized producers, and encourage co-production between countries. There were also more adult animations, driven by digital platforms, in addition to racial and gender inclusion in new productions.

The highlight of the last day? YLE presented its panel at the Imperial Palace's Berlioz theater, where Vicky Schroderus, general manager of international co-productions and acquisitions, presented the Finnish broadcaster's strategy. ‘YLE focuses on Finland and Nordic countries, supporting the development of local IP, however we have recently acquired in South Korea and China, and are exploring financial models to expand our co-production projects. Our catalog consists of animations and in-house production, gaming applications and social media. Our social media footprint is very good considering Finland has a population of 5.8 million, which generates 850,000 views a week on YouTube and Tiktok, and 200,000 active users on gaming platforms'.

Michael Ouweleen, president of Adult Swim, moderated their panel in the Salle de la Volière theater at the Imperial Palace. Kelly Crews, head of production Adult Swim/Cartoon Network, emphasized that they work with and develop first-time creators with pride: 'It's hard to create a show and introduce a certain corporate culture to first-time creators without killing the freshness they bring'. Suzanna Makkos, senior creative & business executive and EVP, WBD added: 'It's about building a team around the creator to develop their strengths and turn them into success'. Michael Ouweleen announced new programs coming to Max, recently launched in Europe, "Women Wearing Shoulder Pads", a stop motion animation that is an homage to the soap opera genre, a new season of 'Smalls", and a new show called "Ha Ha You Clowns."

Luca Milano, CEO of Rai Kids began his presentation by highlighting that the company is adjusting its digital offering, as children are now more exposed to video on demand consumption. Now, Rai offers Rai Yoyo, Ray Gulp on Linnear TV, Rai Play Yoyo, an app without add-ons, Rai Play, the streaming platform, and Rai Radio Kids, a digital radio channel. In terms of acquisitions and productions, he said, 'Funding is being reduced, and the budget (€25 million for European content animation acquisitions) will focus mainly on Italy and Europe; although there is room for growth if major broadcasters work together across Europe'.

Final testimonials? Lucas Soussumi, executive director of Brazilian Content: 'If I compare with MIFA before the pandemic, Brazil brings a greater interest in co-producing and leveraging our local talent, structure and potential in the animation industry and we notice that the markets are more open to co-production than in the past. Our delegation is pleased with the event'. Gregory Dray, co-founder of Animaj (France): 'The industry, from my point of view, is still overlooking the fact that the consumption of children's content has shifted drastically from linear to digital, and YouTube in particular. As an industry, I think we are no longer serving the audience as we should. We can't overlook the fact that 400 million kids a month are on YouTube if we want to reach them and inspire them with great stories, and build new franchise brands. Very few creators and producers can yet articulate a proper strategy to approach that disruption. MIFA continues to grow year after year. The Imperial is getting too small to accommodate all the delegates coming from all over the world'.

Mariano Gutiérrez and Francisco Ferreyra

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