Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), by Winsor McCay, is commonly cited as the first animated film. Yet even before that, filmmakers such as Georges Méliès in 1899 and Segundo de Chomón in 1906 were pioneering another form of animation now known as stop-motion, in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments to create the illusion of life.

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In its latest edition (June 21-27), the Annecy International Animation Film Festival became a celebration of stop-motion, a technique that seemed on the verge of disappearing just a few years ago but is now thriving as one of the most artistic forms of animation.

“When we started Aardman, we were at the very, very bottom of the pyramid,” recalled Peter Lord, who, together with David Sproxton, founded Aardman Animations, the British studio behind beloved stop-motion characters such as Morph, Wallace & Gromit, the Chicken Run poultry universe, and Shaun the Sheep.

Lord spoke in Annecy to a packed auditorium as part of Aardman’s 50th-anniversary celebrations.

“We often say that animation is a technique, not a genre,” he noted. “With stop-motion, I don’t even want to talk about technique—I want to talk about soul. The animator is in direct contact with the creation every step of the way, giving it soul.”

Aardman was not alone in this celebration of stop-motion. Other distinguished guests, including Guillermo del Toro, the Brothers Quay, and previously Wes Anderson, have left the imprint of their hands on Annecy’s newly created Animation Wall of Fame.

“Stop-motion is a very intuitive form of art,” said the Brothers Quay upon receiving Annecy’s Honorary Cristal Award.

Even Duncan Jones, who attended the festival to promote his latest production, Rogue Trooper, recalled that his first filmmaking experience was a stop-motion film he made as a child together with his father, the chameleonic artist David Bowie.

“Stop-motion is a quiet act of rebellion,” reflected Travis Knight, CEO of Laika, during his first visit to Annecy.

His presence coincided with the inauguration of the Cité Internationale du Cinéma d’Animation, a cultural center that opened with a unique exhibition dedicated to Wildwood, Laika’s most ambitious — and perhaps most personal — stop-motion production to date.

Knight described the medium as “a combination of art, craft, and technology. We do use computers, obviously. I mean, we’re not Amish.”

For Mickaël Marin, director of the Annecy Festival, Laika’s work “embodies a distinctive vision of cinema—ambitious, meticulously handcrafted, and profoundly artistic.”

Despite the prominence of stop-motion, the festival’s top awards went to independent productions created outside the major Hollywood studios, some of them employing 2D animation techniques or influenced by anime.

That was the case with the Cristal Award winner, The Violinist, a Singapore-Spanish co-production that triumphed over strong competition from titles such as In Waves, Viva Carmen, and Iron Boy, all of which had already attracted significant attention at Cannes.

At the same time, the ties between Annecy’s independent spirit and the Hollywood animation industry continue to grow stronger.

While del Toro has become a regular presence at the festival, Alfonso Cuarón and Natalie Portman were also in attendance this year.

None of the major studios missed the opportunity to promote their upcoming animated releases at a festival that attracted more than 19,000 attendees.

Illumination painted the city yellow with a Minion invasion as it sought artistic recognition for its latest feature, Minions and Monsters. DreamWorks surprised audiences with the unannounced premiere of Forgotten Island, while Warner Bros. signaled its intention to reclaim its long-standing animation legacy.

Crunchyroll was present, following the success of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle in 2025 and aiming to demonstrate that anime is not merely a trend, but a permanent force in the global animation landscape.