History CICA/CITIA

The Festival will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2010!. Its existence is the fruit of a succession of events.

1956

It all starts with the meeting between the director of the Association de distribution du film, Pierre Barbin, and the Annecy film club (one of the biggest in France with 5,000 members) and their proposition of a programme of animated films during the Cannes festival entitled les Journées internationales du cinéma d'animation (Jica). As the Cannes festival has little room for frame by frame film and its creators, the organisers suggest transferring the Jica to the lakeside town of Annecy at the same time as the centenary celebrations of the annexation of Savoie, in the presence of General de Gaulle.

1960

The first edition of the Annecy Jica takes place from 7 to 12 June. Festival sponsors are Alexandre Alexeieff, Max Fleischer, Paul Grimault, Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Jirí Trnka, and the event attracts prestigious representatives from some twenty countries including Bruno Bozzetto, George Dunning, John Halas, John Hubley, Grant Munro, Ernest Pintoff, Bretislav Pojar, Dusan Vukotic, Karel Zeman.

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1969

There is no Festival due to all subventions being cut because of the social rebellion that is still rife at the time.

1971-1981

Raymond Maillet succeeds Pierre Barbin, director since 1960.

Up to 1982

The Festival is managed from an office in Paris in coordination with the Annecy film club. The biennial event presents between 300 and 400 films to a professional public and is considered elitist with a reputation for showing auteur animation that is limited to short films.

1982

The organisation offices finally come to Annecy!
Aided by the newly built Bonlieu cultural centre, the development strategy established by new director, Jean-Luc Xiberras, makes six theatres available, thus multiplying screenings threefold.

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1983

Annecy receives 1,300 animation professionals and the Festival opens up the competition to TV and commissioned films.

1984

The Jica association becomes Cica: Centre international du cinéma d'animation (The International Animated Film Centre).

1985

The first edition of the film Market (Marché international du film d'animation, Mifa), with an exhibition space of 500 m2.

1987

The first Creative Focus and Job Fair takes place creating a synergy between the Festival and the Market with a project competition, animation demonstrations, individual meetings with producers, broadcasters and animation studios, allowing young creatives to find answers to their many queries.

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1998

The Festival becomes an annual event.
The 1,270 films submitted for the last biennial as well as competition from American and Japanese events are strong arguments in favour of making the Festival annual. The motion is unanimously carried (minus one vote) at the Cica board of directors meeting on 30 August 1997, followed by the municipal council in September.
The full-time staff increases from 4 to 15 with the annual event, while temporary workers complete the workforce as preparations develop. Around 180 volunteers help out during the week of the events, making a total of about 250 immobilised for Festival week.

1999

Tiziana Loschi takes over the post of Managing Director following the death of Jean-Luc Xiberras in December 1998. Serge Bromberg takes over as Artistic Director.

2000

40th anniversary of the International Animated Film Festival.
1,092 films submitted, 279 films in the official selection, 7 screens, 5,300 accreditations, 110,000 spectators, 670 companies registered at the Market.

2006

CITIA (City of Moving Images) an Établissement public de coopération culturelle, is created on 1 July.
Co-founder of the Imaginove competitiveness cluster, specialised in digital entertainment, this structure concentrates its initiatives in the culture, economy and training/research sectors.
25 full-time staff work on the preparations for the Festival and Mifaas well as other CITIAactivities. Patrick Eveno is Director.

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2007

Focus on animated features, with new initiatives: an increase in the number of films in competition from 5 to 10, and 2 new prizes in the category.

2008

The event sees a 10 % increase in attendance, with 6,700 badge-holders, 1,867 films submitted for selection, 284 films in the official selection and 300 journalists. The Mifatakes place in an exhibition space of 3,000 m2 (a 20 % increase) and records an attendance of 1,131 companies.
New for 2008 are "Work in progress" sessions to discover feature films in production and new categories for calls for projects at the Creative Focus for features, animation and video game and TV.

2009

The Annecy Festival has reached the mature age of 49 and exerts its influence on a local, regional and international level.

2010: 50 years of flawless commitment!

this 34^th edition was a great success. Over 50 celebrated guests were in attendance to celebrate the 50^th anniversary. Check out the collector's 5-DVD box set and the book Creators & Creatures containing drawings from many great masters of animation.

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