Ugo Bienvenu’s French feature Arco won the Cristal award for best feature film at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
Produced by Felix de Givry for France’s Remembers and Natalie Portman and Sophie Mas for US firm MountainA, the film is co-written byt Bienvenu and de Givry.
Scroll down for the full list of feature winners
Arco depicts an eponymous rainbow who crash lands on near-future earth from the year 3000. A little girl who witnesses his fall helps him to return home.
It debuted as a Special Screenings title in Official Selection at Cannes last month.
The Jury award in the main competition went to Yasuhiro Aoki’s Japanese title ChaO, a story of human-merpeople relationships in near-future Shanghai.
Best Friend Forever secured international rights to ChaO this week.
The Paul Grimault award went to Momoko Seto’s France-Belgium co-production Dandelion’s Odyssey, which blends computer animation and timelapse photography.
The Gan Foundation award for distribution went to Irene Iborra Rizo’s Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, a co-production between Spain, France, Belgium, Chile and Switzerland; while the audience award went to French feature Little Amelie or the Character of Rain.
In the competitive Contrechamp section, Seth Scriver and Pete Scriver’s animated documentary Endless Cookie took the Grand Prix; with Bo-Sol Kim’s South Korean film The Square receiving the Jury award.
The awards were handed out at a ceremony in the Bonlieu venue this evening (Saturday, June 14).
10 special prizes and two distinctions were presented in a separate ceremony on Friday, June 13, with Arco taking the best original soundtrack prize, and a distinction in the same category going to Canadian-French co-production Death Does Not Exist.
In the concurrent Mifa market, Gorune Aprikian’s Maryam & Varto won the SACD prize for best feature pitch. Set in Anatolia in 1915, the story follows two Armenian children caught in the turmoil of war; and the Turkish teenager who tries to save them.
Annecy concludes this evening after seven days of premieres, studio showcases and discussions. New titles launched at the festival include Pixar’s original animation Gatto; while further information was unveiled for High In The Clouds based on Paul McCartney’s book; and Sony, Paramount and Netflix were among the studios to host slate presentations.
Annecy 2025 winners
Feature film
Cristal for feature film – Arco (Fr) dir. Ugo Bienvenu
Jury award – ChaO (Jap) dir. Yasuhiro Aoki
Paul Grimault award – Dandelion’s Odyssey (Fr-Bel) dir. Momoko Seto
Gan Foundation award for distribution – Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake (Sp-Fr-Bel-Chile-Switz) dir. Irene Iborra Rizo
Audience award – Little Amelie or the Character of Rain (Fr)
Contrechamp
Grand Prix – Endless Cookie (Can) dirs. Seth Scriver, Pete Scriver
Jury award – The Square (S Korea) dir. Bo-Sol Kim
Special awards
SACEM award for best original soundtrack – Arco (Fr) for Arnaud Toulon
Pablo Pico Distinction, SACEM award for best original soundtrack – Death Does Not Exist (Can-Fr) for Jean L’Appeau
Mifa
SACD prize for a feature pitch – Maryam & Varto (Fr) dir. Gorune Aprikian
