The Mifa 2019 has just ended with a new record edition, consolidating its status as the largest single market in the world devoted to animated film.
This event, with more than 4,000 badge holders (+9 per cent) from 82 countries and bringing together professionals and talents from global audiovisual and animation film industries, continues to evolve.
Mifa head Véronique Encrenaz stated, “Along with Mickaël Marin and our teams, we designed this 2019 edition with particular focus on the welcome and support for the professionals, both regulars and first-time visitors to the Mifa, who increasingly consider Annecy as the unmissable annual event. The immediate feedback received leads us to believe that we made the right choices, now we must simply continue in this vein and introduce new initiatives that we already have on the backburner.”
12 Years of Continuous Growth
- 4,143 MIFA accreditations, +9 per cent
- 1,881 participating companies, +8.4 per cent
- 433 buyers, distributors and investors
- 120 events at the Mifa this year, +14 per cent
82 countries were represented on a larger 8,000m² meeting area. This included a Japanese delegation, whose country’s animation was honoured this year, with nearly 150 Japanese representatives and 50 companies present (compared with 68 accredited from 35 structures last year) and an increase of professionals from Africa.
The Mifa Pitch projects are on the rise: 498 projects submitted (+6.4 per cent), 37 projects selected, 14 led by women, and 10 projects proposed in the Animation du Monde section – a privileged showcase for works and artists from emerging countries – from Columbia, Singapore, Mozambique, Peru, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Armenia, Turkey.
A New XR Dimension
Within the XR@Annecy transversal programming developed this year, a new dimension was also provided for XR at the Mifa. For the first time companies such as Orange, Epic Games, Vrroom VRrOOm, Ubisoft, Word VR Group, CG Lux and Telefilm/Vancouver VR were present. A reinforced presence from Unity was also noted, the official partner of the Mifa Campus this year.
2019 Highlights
The Mifa Animation Industry Award was awarded to one of the most esteemed French animation producers, Marc du Pontavice and his company Xilam Animation that currently reflects all production’s diversity, from series for children and families to animation aimed at adults (Oggy and the Cockroaches, Mr Magoo, I Lost My Body) also opening up new horizons towards fun and educative content (Paprika, Oggy Oggy and more).
Some very coveted recruitment sessions: 1,043 candidates (compared with 920 in 2018), from the 9,000 who applied, were received during the 68 recruitment sessions (52 per cent France; 40 per cent Europe; 8 per cent outside of the EU). The major studios, such as Illumination MacGuff, The Walt Disney Company, Laika, Sony, Cube Creative, Mikros Animation, Xilam Animation, TAT Prod, Blue Spirit, and others were able to meet young professionals from all over the world. New recruiters were Netflix, People Moving Pixels (Spain), Solidanim (France).
Focus on Women at the Mifa
- Nora Twomey: the Mifa Campus’ first female patron, followed in Guillermo del Toro and Richard Williams’ footsteps.
- 3rd Women in Animation World Summit organized by Women in Animation and Les Femmes s’Animent.
- 1,789 women badge holders that is more than 40 per cent of the Mifa accreditations
- 30 per cent are women among the 170 international experts invited to the Mifa, in other words +8 per cent
- Among the 1,043 candidates at the recruitment sessions, 610 were female candidates, almost 55 per cent.
The festival will celebrate its 60th anniversary from 15 to 20 June 2020 and 16 to 19 June 2020 for the next edition of the Mifa!