Focus on Bordeaux

Animation First 2019 was designed in partnership with the City of Bordeaux. The festival will spotlight Bordeaux’s burgeoning animation, gaming, and virtual reality industries.

The wine capital of the world and a UNESCO world heritage site, Bordeaux has a very rich cultural and artistic life. Home to many graphic artists, Bordeaux has close ties to the worlds of animation and graphic novels. Writers and editors (Cornelius, Requins Marteaux) as well as producers (Capricci, Marmita Films, Schmuby Productions) regularly collaborate in Bordeaux on the most exciting projects in their field. Since 2017, it has hosted the Cartoon Movie competition, Europe’s premier professional pitching and co-production event for animated features. Bordeaux-based video game companies such as Ubisoft, Asobo and Nova Box, as well as companies like SolidAnim that specialize in special effects and virtual reality, play a major role in the industry. Bordeaux is also home to one of the only cinemas in Europe exclusively devoted to animation. For the last 28 years, this unique cinema has produced Les Nuits Magiques, a popular animation festival under the patronage of filmmaker Michel Ocelot, Animation First’s guest of honor.

It’s an honor to be able to showcase Bordeaux’s talented artists and filmmakers on this side of the Atlantic. It has been a priority of mine to support the creative industries within our region, so I am delighted that they will be presented as part of FIAF’s 2019 Animation First festival.
— Alain Juppé, Mayor of Bordeaux

Highlights from Bordeaux

Join us for this exciting selection of feature films, shorts, and video games produced and/or distributed by Bordeaux-based companies.

Le Port de la Lune
Fri, Jan 25 at 7pm
An Unanimation VR short, screened before Kirikou and the Sorceress.

Videos Games
Sat–Sun, Jan 26–27, from 11am–6am
Featuring video games produced by Asobo Studio (A Plague Tale), NovaBox (Seers Isle), and Ubisoft.

Late Night Chills
Sat, Jan 26 at 10:30pm
Shorts from Marmitafilms and Shumby, and selections by Les Nuits Magiques.

Robinson & compagnie
Sun, Jan 27 at 11am
Distributed by Capricci.

White Fang
Sun, Jan 27 at 12:45pm
First presented at Cartoon Movie Bordeaux and produced in Angoulême.

Mastering Special Effects: Motion Capture and Virtual Reconstruction
Sun, Jan 27 at 4:30pm
A panel with SolidAnim.