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‘Arco,’ ‘The Night Boots’ Win Top Awards At Politically-Charged Annecy Closing Ceremony

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While the opening night ceremony of Annecy took a political turn, that was nothing compared to tonight’s closing ceremony, which had a somber tone impacted by recent events in the Middle East.

In the time between Annecy’s opening and closing ceremony, Israel launched an attack on yet another country in the Middle East, this time Iran, and Annecy’s artistic director Marcel Jean set the tone for the ceremony by acknowledging the new war upfront. It was especially poignant as two of festival’s jury members this year were Iranian women, and many Iranian animators and filmmakers in attendance at the festival are currently stranded in France and unable to return to Iran.

Said Jean:

As we celebrated our screenings, missiles rained down on our beloved Iran. While art lit up the screens, fear lit up the skies back home. Some of the invited Iranian directors are now stranded, unsure when or if they can return. Airlines have canceled flights, borders are closing, time stands still. Our families and friends are living through terror they never deserved. No human being should ever have to ever face bombs, instead of safety; fire instead of peace. We want to be with our loved ones, in our own homes, in our own country.

The oldest-known example of animation was found on a 5,000-year old piece of pottery in Iran…a testament to how deeply our identity is tied to creativity. We did not choose these wars; we are tired of carrying the weight of destruction we did not create. Let us live; let us go home; stop the bombs.

Jean’s statement was followed by a minute-long standing ovation from the full house of nearly one thousand people in the Bonlieu’s Grand Salle, which can be viewed below:

Later in the evening, Iranian feature film jury member Sepideh Farsi spoke to the audience via video about the subject of her new documentary, Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with nine members of her family one day after Farsi’s film was selected to screen at Cannes. Said Farsi:

There are quite a few conflicts ongoing. One of them is particularly monstrous. That is the ongoing genocide in Gaza. For one year, I worked for Fatma Hassouna. She was killed two months ago in an Israeli airstrike targeting her house with all her family. I had made a promise to her to go to Gaza to meet her once the war was over. I haven’t been able to keep that promise, but I’ll try to do something that would be meaningful, because we need to break this blockade and to stop this war.

Farsi proceeded to read a poem from a young Palestinian girl who had shared her feelings with Hassouna before she was killed. Farsi’s speech drew another standing ovation and shouts of “Free Palestine” throughout the theater.

Still later in the evening, the other Iranian jury member, Shiva Sadegh Asadi, who was on the short film jury, read a piece by twenty-something poet Parnia Abbasi, who, along with her family, was killed on Friday in Tehran as a result of Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of civilians:

In spite of the sad undertones dampening this year’s ceremony, there were plenty of awards to hand out and filmmakers to celebrate. The feature film awards were incredible diverse this year with no film winning more than once in the main categories. Seven different films won awards, with the top prizes going to Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco (Cristal for a Feature Film) and Pete and Seth Scriver’s Endless Cookie (Contrechamp Grand Prix, which honors edgier and quirkier features that might otherwise not receive the attention they deserve).

Neon has already acquired North American distribution rights to the fantasy film Arco, which is set in the year 2075 and follows a lost time-traveling boy in a rainbow-suit from the year 2932 who befriends a 10-year-old girl. The film premiered out of competition last month at Cannes and is backed by Natalie Portman, who is not only voicing a character but also producing the film. There’s tons of momentum behind the film right now — Cannes, Neon, Natalie Portman, Annecy winner — so keep an eye on Arco as we head into the fall awards season.

On the short side, the top Cristal was awarded to The Night Boots by veteran stop-motion animator Pierre-Luc Granjon, who has directed numerous shorts in addition to co-directing the feature The Inventor. Granjon’s film picked up two other significant awards throughout the evening: the audience award for short film and the André Martin Award for a French short film.

The Night Boots’s synopsis: “In the middle of the night, while his parents are entertaining friends, a child slips on his wellington boots and sneaks off into the woods. There, a strange solitary creature leads him into the heart of the forest to meet the nocturnal inhabitants.” Granjon’s twelve-and-a-half-minute film was made using a vintage pinscreen, the animation tool invented in the 1930s by animator Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker.

Michael Granberry’s Ladislas Starevich-inspired stop-motion film Les Bêtes won the jury award for short film. Granberry was the only American to win in the main shorts categories. It’s about a mysterious rabbit with a set of magic keys who summons a host of strange creatures to entertain a wicked king and his decadent court.

In his acceptance speech, Granberry championed the role of artists during this dark period of history, stating, “This art form attracts people who carry a very unique, beautiful fire in them that shines a light that the world desperately, desperately needs right now. Do not be afraid of the dark, the sickness of hate, because we are the cure.”

Another notable American winner: the top prize for a tv production went to Shaddy Safadi’s Christo The Civilized Barbarian. It’s an especially interesting choice because the project, from Santa Monica-based One Pixel Brush, is an online series made with a small crew and budget, and it managed to beat out a variety of high-profile studio productions including Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, Devil May Cry, Common Side Effects, and Astérix & Obélix. The winning episode can be viewed below:

The top commissioned film was French animator Lola Lefèvre and her music video “Ye Kou Si Kuo,” produced for Naive New Beaters and Star Feminine Band. It’s a project that we’ve written enthusiastically about in the past, and we’re excited to see that Lefèvre is currently pitching a series project inspired by this video.

A full list of winners from this year’s festival is below:

2025 Annecy Festival Award Winners
Feature Films

Cristal for a Feature Film

Arco, Ugo Bienvenu (France)

Jury Award

ChaO, Yasuhiro Aoki (Japan)

Paul Grimault Award

Dandelion’s Odyssey (Planètes), Momoko Seto (France, Belgium)

Gan Foundation Award for Distribution

Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, Irene Iborra (Belgium, Chile, France, Spain)

Contrechamp Grand Prix

Endless Cookie, Seth Scriver, Pete Scriver (Canada)

Contrechamp Jury Award

The Square, Bo-Sol Kim (South Korea)

Audience Award

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han (France)

Short Films

Cristal for a Short Film

The Night Boots, Pierre-Luc Granjon (France)

Jury Award

Les Bêtes, Michael Granberry (U.S.)

Alexeïeff – Parker Award

Sappho, Rosana Urbes (Brazil)

Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for a First Film

Murmuration,, Janneke Swinkels, Tim Frijsinger (Netherlands, Belgium)

Off-Limits Award

The Graffiti Ryo Orikasa (Japan)

Audience Award

The Night Boots, Pierre-Luc Granjon (France)

TV Films

Cristal for a TV Production

Christo The Civilized Barbarian “Hunting Party”, Shaddy Safadi (U.S.)

Jury Award for a TV Series

Lena’s Farm “Volles Nest”, Elena Walf (Germany)

Jury Award for a TV Special

An Almost Christmas Story, David Lowery (U.S.)

Audience Award

Freaked Out “Major Decision”, Théo Grosjean, Mothy Richard (Belgium, France)

Commissioned Films

Cristal for a Commissioned Film

Naive New Beaters, Star Feminine Band “Ye Kou Si Kuo”, Lola Lefevre (France)

Jury Award for a Commissioned Film

Desi Oon, Suresh Eriyat (India)

Graduation Films

Cristal for a Graduation Film

Zootrope Léna Martinez (ENSAD, France)

Jury Award

Between the Gaps Martin Bonnin (La Poudrière, France)

Lotte Reiniger Award

Q Masataka Kihara (Tama Art University, Japan)

VR Works

Cristal for a VR Work

Fragile Home, Ondrej Moravec, Victoria Lopukhina (Czech Republic)

Special Prizes

France TV Award for a Short Film

At Night, Pooya Afzali (Iran)

City of Annecy Award

Ibuka, Justice, Justice Rutikara (Japan)

City of Annecy Jury Special Distinction

Psychonauts, Niko Radas (Croatia)

Festivals Connexion Award for a VR Work

Fragile Home, Ondrej Moravec, Victoria Lopukhina (Czech Republic)

André Martin Award for a French Short Film

The Night Boots, Pierre-Luc Granjon (France)

SACEM Award for Best Original Soundtrack in a Feature Film

Arnaud Toulon for Arco (France)

Jury Distinction for Original Soundtrack in a Feature Film

Jean L’Appeau for Death Does Not Exist (Canada, France)

SACEM Award for Best Original Soundtrack in a Short Film

Sebastian Hilli for Dollhouse Elephant (Finland)

Young Audience Award

The Great Annual Party of the Creatures of the Moon, Francis Desharnais (Canada)

Canal+ Junior Jury Award

Forevergreen, Nathan Engelhardt, Jeremy Spears (U.S.)

Vimeo Staff Pick Award for a Short Film in the Official and Off-Limits Categories

Les Bêtes, Michael Granberry (U.S.)

XPPen Award for a Graduation Film

Won’t Be Here, Jiali Tan, Haoyuan Zhu (China)

Pictured at top: Arco (left) and The Night Boots.

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