Annecy Will Not Host Any Official Russian Delegations At Its Festival

The world’s largest international animation festival, Annecy, has announced that it will not host any official or government delegations from Russia this year.

The festival, however, has said that it will continue to support Russian animation filmmakers, who as we’ve seen over the past few weeks, are largely (and forcefully) opposed to their country’s war.

In a statement, Annecy organizers said:

As organizers of an international event dedicated to animation, our thoughts are of course with the Ukrainian artists and professionals, whose works are regularly presented at Annecy, but these thoughts also go to their Russian counterparts who dare to stand up against the regime and this current military assault.

Freedom, fraternity, sharing, and hospitality are fundamental values that the Annecy Festival fiercely defends, and several times in its history, even recently, it has made a clear stance on freedom and rejected any form of censorship and oppression.

We will always stand by the artists and professionals who support these values.

The decision to remove official Russian delegations seems most likely to effect the MIFA industry market side of the event, which in years past has had industry booths sponsored by Russia’s Ministry of Culture.