Annecy Asia International Animated Film Festival Launching in Seoul in 2019

CITIA, Image et industries créatives, the SBA Animation Center and SK Broadband sign a partnership agreement to create a new animation festival in South Korea’s Digital Media in Seoul in September 2019.

Earlier today, during MIFA -- the Annecy International Animation Film Market -- CITIA, Image et industries créatives (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 first Annecy Asia International Animation Film Festival will take place in Seoul in 2019.

CITIA, organizer of the world’s biggest animation festival, is deploying its trademark and expertise abroad. This is a new step in this strategy after two years of Annecy Goes to Cannes. The creation of the Annecy Asia International Animation Festival is a project carried out in cooperation with the SBA Animation Center and SK Broadband (South Korea’s leading broadband provider).

L to R: Harry (Sang Chul) Yoon (SK Broadband), Hyungchul Joo (SBA - Seoul Animation Center), and Patrick Eveno (CITIA). Photo by G. Piel/CITIA.

The three partners plan on launching the project in September 2019 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. In two years, the first edition of this Festival dedicated to international animation will be held inside this cultural hotspot.

“With this partnership, we mutually engage to unite our skills,” exclaimed Mickaël Marin, CITIA Managing Director. “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 Joo Hyungcheol, CEO of SBA Animation. “Together, we will create the most popular animation festival in Asia.”

Source: Annecy International Animation Film Market

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.