Animation is the new black this summer.
We had the pleasure of joining the Catalan delegation at MIFA Annecy, the world’s leading animation market, held alongside the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. This year’s edition was memorable in more ways than one, with record-breaking temperatures matching the energy and excitement across the industry.
Producer Rose Kowalski and writer-director Glàfira Smith attended to present Horizontal Films’ growing animation slate, promoting Secret Sauce, our animated short film currently heading into production, and Truffle, our new animated feature in development.
One of the highlights of this year’s festival was celebrating the success of composer Isabel de Latorre, who joins the creative team of Secret Sauce. Isabel received Annecy’s prestigious SACEM Award for Best Original Soundtrack for The Violinist, which also won the Cristal Award for Best Feature Film. Congratulations to Isabel and the entire The Violinist team on this outstanding achievement—we are thrilled to have her on board.
As always, Annecy offered an extraordinary selection of new animated films. Among our favourite short films from this year’s festival are God Is Shy by Jocelyn Charles, the festival’s most awarded short, Paper Trail by Don Hertzfeldt, and Anna Mantzaris’ wonderfully observed Please.
We return from Annecy inspired, with new collaborators, fresh ideas, and exciting momentum as we continue developing stories that blend documentary, illustration, and animation.
Stay tuned for more updates as Secret Sauce enters production and Truffle continues its development journey.