Annecy ’26: Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd… and the Minions?
Tuesday, June 30, 2026 at 5:30PM ;)
This year, I was lucky enough to attend the 50th edition of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market. The festivities ended this past weekend, with Ervin Han and Raúl García’s The Violinist taking the prestigious Cristal prize for Best Film from the feature competition. Past winners include such titles as Arco, Memoir of a Snail, Flee, I Lost My Body, Coraline, and many other unforgettable pictures. But it wasn’t all fun and games and glory. While the festival was underway in the Alps, France was suffering through its worst heatwave in recorded history, and before it all ended, the tragic death of animator Luis de La Rosa shrouded the event in a sense of collective grief. Between good and bad, triumph and unexpected sorrow, there is much to discuss.
No better place to start than at the beginning, with the slapstick extravaganza that had the honor of opening the festivities – Minions & Monsters, which comes to theaters this week, worldwide…