Last year, the outsized influence of animation at the box office was highlighted as China’s “Ne Zha 2” grossed $2.25 billion, Disney’s “Zootopia 2” earned $1.8 billion and European co-production “Flow” made Academy Awards history.
Animation is off to a strong start for 2026, with the first Animation Days taking place in Berlin from February 12 to 14, “a new industry platform that strengthens awareness of Europe’s strengths and invites producers, financiers, sales companies, broadcasters and distributors to explore international animation projects with strong market potential,” the EFM announced.
A joint initiative of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and EFM, Animation Days is packed with showcase presentations from around the world. Focusing on co-production, funding and creative collaboration, this first edition spotlights international animation and will showcase 28 projects across five pitch sessions. Four focus on projects in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Central and Eastern Europe, and the final focus brings together seven projects from Finland, Denmark, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom.
On Friday, the Annecy EFM Showcase will showcase five works in progress, aiming to attract distributors and distributors and gain visibility at the festival.
The full showcase lineup includes Pesta, a Norwegian-German-French 2D romantic horror set in medieval Norway; “MouMoush — The King of Plastic” is a Hungarian hybrid fantasy adventure. Zako is an Armenian-French-Lithuanian historical drama that focuses on the life of Armenian painter Sarkis Mangasaryan. “Grandma is a Tree!” A 2D comedy adventure set in Luxembourg and France with hand-drawn backgrounds from French director Hugo de Faucompre. And A Door to the Woods, a Polish-French-Czech-Belgian co-production, is a hybrid that blends 2D, 3D and rotoscoped animation to tell the story of two young Poles torn apart by war.
Animation Day brings together experts for networking opportunities, industry talks, case studies and workshops. The “Making Animated Documentaries” event organized by CEE Animation will explore the challenges of this particular film format, while DOK Leipzig will host a case study of the animated feature-turned-animated documentary series “Frizzi: A Story of Revolution.”
As CG animation continues to evolve in line with the changing landscape of the 3D and VFX industry, two case studies focus on building world-class animation through efficient, informed collaboration. ‘The Amazing Maurice 2’ provides an inside analysis of the successful British-German co-production, sponsored by Animation UK. Meanwhile, “The Last Whale” reveals this Canadian-German-Czech co-production’s innovative approach to using real-time animation.
Animation professionals also have the opportunity to consult experts through one-on-one consultations with multiple talents. Aardman, Red Kite, Studio 100 and more will be joining EFM this year.
Beyond the EFM, animation was once again well represented at the 2026 Berlinale, with the French-Japanese co-production film A New Dawn competing for the Golden Bear. Among other selections, Brazilian director Priscilla Keren’s feature debut Papaya is part of Generation Kplus, along with Chimney Town’s second feature film Frozen. China’s Xu Zao’s feature debut “Han ye deng zhu” (“Light Pillar”) was presented as part of the Perspectives competition. The nine competition shorts and the world premiere of the digitally restored “Jubei Ninpūcho” (“Ninpocho”) round out this solid animation slot.
