The world premiere of Universal’s Minions & Monsters opened the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Sunday, June 21, as extreme
The world premiere of Universal’s Minions & Monsters opened the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Sunday, June 21, as extreme heat hit the French lakeside town.
Temperatures reached 36 degrees celsius in the afternoon, with air-conditioned cinemas and event rooms providing respite for festivalgoers. Annecy runs until Saturday 27, with temperatures in the mid-to-high 30s forecast for the entire week and the thermometer not set to drop below 22 degrees at night. Festivalgoers were seen making apply of water fountains around the town, while others took straight to the lake to nippy off.
At the opening ceremony at the Bonlieu main screening venue, artistic director Marcel Jean welcomed Minions & Monsters director Pierre Coffin and Chris Meledandri, CEO of animation studio Illumination, to the stage to unveil their handprint plaques, which will be placed at the town’s modern Cite d’Animation venue.
“There is nowhere in the world that we would rather be premiering Minions & Monsters than here at Annecy,” said Meledandri. “It gives us the opportunity to honour imagination and artistry. Tonight I get to share my appreciation for all the care that has been poured into everyone one of the frames of this movie by hundreds of artists at Illumination Studios.”
Opening night attendees included Guillermo del Toro, with several opening ceremony speakers repeating the Mexican director’s maxim that “animation is not a genre”, and Cannes general delegate Thierry Fremaux.
Dominique Puthod, president of festival organising body CITIA, gave a passionate speech defending artistic freedom and diversity in the face of challenges including AI.
“French and European animation is today recognised throughout the world because it is based on a balance between artistic freedom, support for creation, international openness and diversity of perspectives,” said Puthod.
“It is this model that allows unique works. It’s about defending out collective ability to tell the world differently.”
Puthod said the Cité d’Animation, opened on Friday June 19, is a place for “encounters, creation, and openness towards others.”
“So, let’s trust the artists,” concluded Puthod.
Annecy mayor Antoine Armand pledged to boost funding for culture when it is under attack. “We believe in culture and that’s why we have decided that in the years to come, here in Annecy, we’ll support culture, we’ll increase the funds for culture because when culture is attacked around the world, we have to defend it,” said Armand. “When it is threatened, it needs to be protected.”
Armand also recalled Iranian-French filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, director of animated feature Persepolis, who died earlier this month aged 56.
“She reminds us that freedom is not a given and never will be,” said Armand, citing Satrapi’s book Woman, Life, Freedom.
With around 18,400 festival attendees expected across the week – on a par with last year – the town was busy on the opening day. The festival is taking place two weeks’ later than in previous years due to last week’s G7 summit nearby in France.
The later date means the festival has collided with both the arrival of summer tourists, and the town’s Fete de la Musique on June 21, with hundreds of people lining the streets for pop-up shows of different musical genres around the town.
Competition screenings today in Annecy include Yoshitoshi Shinomiya’s A New Dawn and Shui Yu’s Nobody.
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