MIFA 2025 starts officially today, though with the Annecy Festival around, yesterday there was very good moment. It is strange MIFA, because its calendar is June 10-13, but the strongest days are 9-11 inclusive. Yesterday WIA (Women in Animation) developed the three panel blocks of the day, plus a cocktail of Passion Pictures. Then, there was a cocktail by Banijay Kids & Family, where we’ve seen one of the main trends to stress at the market: due to current animation difficulties, leading companies are generating twists to surpass crisis stops.

Delphine Dumont, CCO of Banijay: ‘At MIFA we have a strong slate of shows including ‘Stan & Gran’, ‘Piripenguins’, ‘Super Happy Magic Forest’ and ‘Totally Spies!’. We are always on the lookout for great IP that is struggling with financing and we can invest in the role of co-producer, distributor or other, we are very flexible in business models. And being present in UK, France and Italy, we are able to leverage local tax incentives. We are also looking for IPs in the digital space, as we have a very strong operation with more than 200 channels. We acquire IPs, and manage brands in this space, as well as our own extensive catalogue of shows, particularly on YouTube. We are fortunate to be part of a wider group and benefit hugely from the support and scale of Banijay Entertainment’.

WIA made focus on ‘The future is animated: the audience’, ‘The future of adult animation’ and ‘What’s next showcasing the future. Some testimonials: Julie Anne Crommett, Collective Movie and WIA board member: ‘The animation market is so changing, unpredictable, that the only certain thing is that we have the industry members each other, to help and find solutions together. These are times of collaboration, but the good news is that I see the companies very available to break traditions and to promote new alliances’.

Jinko Gotoh, VP of WIA (also, Sony Pictures Animation): ‘This is a moment of big changes and of opportunities at the same time, animation people must be open to evolve and to generate new production, distribution models. There is future for sure, but this is time for clever decisions’. Rebecca Suger, Warner Bros: ‘It is shocking the efforts that independent producers make to finish a project. It is like to have a son, with details to take care to reach a good final result’. Megan Dong, Locksmith Animation: ‘Today the animation market must evolve because the kids are impacted by the tech changes. The secret is always a good story, but the you have to make something very attractive for the new audiencies’.

Product trends? If we guide ourselves by the WIA presentation, we can say that bizarre characters are gaining space. Dragons, sharks, mythologic creatures, to surprise the audience. And the stories are irreverent with many ‘zig zags’, changes, like the adult serialized pieces. Let’s see during the rest of the market.

Today, Tuesday 10, we have a press conference + cocktail of Mediawan in the morning, and a showcase + cocktail of TAICCA (Taiwan Content Association) in the afternoon. Also, a cocktail of Federation Kids. The Asian presence rise is another trend of the whole content market, not only MIFA. There the industry can find investors, Government facilities and the support difficult to find already in Europe and the US market. Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan are leaders at the Asian Internationalization.

Nicolás Smirnoff, from Annecy

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