Annecy will come to Asia with its first edition in Seoul.
During MIFA at the Annecy International Animation Film Market, Festival organisers CITIA, Image et industries creatives (France), the SBA Animation Center (South Korea) and SK Broadband (South Korea) signed a partnership agreement to create a new animation festival in South Korea: The Annecy Asia International Animation Film Festival. The first edition will come to Seoul, South Korea in September 2019.
The French animation festival will partner with South Korea’s SBA Animation Center and SK Broadband to create the new Annecy Asia Animated Film Festival.
The three partners plan on launching the project at the Digital Media City, in the heart of Korea’s cultural industry. Created in 2002, this high-tech complex dedicated to new digital technologies spans across 570,000 square meters with offices, exhibition spaces, conference rooms, and more. The organisers said that the dates are yet to be determined and will be arranged to be synergistic with the country’s largest K-Pop festival. The festival will be largely designated for the general audience.
“With this partnership, we mutually engage to unite our skills,” exclaimed CITIA managing director Mickael Marin. “This is a great opportunity to spread the Annecy trademark abroad. We are certain that this international dynamic will enrich all parties involved collectively.”
In South Korea, the animation sector is rapidly developing. This partnership will therefore enable the country to give structure to its industry, to step onto the international market and promote the exporting of local productions.
“The Annecy Festival, set in a town with a beautiful landscape, will be associated with Seoul, Asia’s central city that has its own history and is also developing technology of the future,” commented SBA Animation CEO Joo Hyungcheol. “Together, we will create the most popular animation festival in Asia.”