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A New Dawn, The Obsessed, Peleliu, We Are Aliens, More Films to Play at Annecy

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival announced this week the films that will play in this year's festival, including film label NOTHING NEW and animator Kōhei Kadowaki's We Are Aliens (Ware Ware wa Uchūjin) anime film in the "Feature Films: Official" competition section. The "Contrechamp" competition section will screen the following Japanese entries: A New Dawn (Hana Rokushō ga Akeru Hi ni) film, Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise (Peleliu: Rakuen no Guernica) film, and The Obsessed musical anime film. The U.S. entry The Orbit of Minor Satellites, co-produced by Nobuaki Doi (Ikimono-san anime shorts planning and production), will also play in the Contrechamp section. (Annecy lists We Are Aliens and A New Dawn as Japanese/French productions.)

"Annecy Presents," one of the festival's non-competitive sections, will feature the following Japanese films: CHIMNEY TOWN: Frozen in Time (Entotsu-chō no Poupelle ~Yakusoku no Tokeidai~) anime film, Paris ni Saku Étoile (L'étoile de Paris en fleur or Étoile Blossoming in Paris) original anime film, The Camphorwood Custodian (Kusunoki no Bannin; Annecy lists its English title The Keeper of the Camphor Tree) film, and The Ribbon Hero film based on Osamu Tezuka's Princess Knight (Ribbon no Kishi) manga.

"Annecy's Midnight Specials," another out-of-competition section, will feature Sekiro: No Defeat, the new anime based on FromSoftware's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice game.

The festival previously announced that it will also screen the Candy Caries, Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, Takopi's Original Sin, and the first episode of the Sparks of Tomorrow anime in competition in the "TV Films" section. The festival will screen Yini Guo's "Plankton α" and Sam Kuwa's "So He Grabbed the Knife" ("Soshite Knife wo Te ni Shita") in the "Graduation Films" section. The opening credits of animated series of CAPCOM's Devil May Cry will screen in the "Commissioned Films" section.

The first two episodes of The Ghost in the Shell (Kōkaku Kidōtai THE GHOST IN THE SHELL), Science SARU's new The Ghost in the Shell television anime series, will have their global premiere as a Screening Event at this year's festival. The event is titled "Dive into "THE GHOST IN THE SHELL."

The festival will also feature Japanese entries for its "Short Films" and "Graduation Films" categories. The films from Japan in each category include:

• Short Films Official: Kōji Yamamura's "Haru no Umi" ("The Spring Sea")
• Perspectives: Yakata Kanata's "Bucketman" and Ryotaro Miyajima's "Rest"
• Midnight Shorts: Seishirō Nagaya's "A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard" from Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 and Ryoji Yamada's Builder
• Graduation Films: Yiling Wang's "Slap" (with music by Daisuke Ishikawa)

The 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival will be held in Annecy, France from June 21 to June 27.

Sources: Press release, Annecy Festival