CMF Joins NFB, Telefilm’s Industry-Defining Presence at Annecy, Powering Canadian Animation on a Global Scale

With more than 11 films in competition and six additional titles featured in out‑of‑competition sections and special programs, Canada stands out once again at France’s Annecy Animation Film Festival and its lakeside market, MIFA.

A confirmation of the push powered by Canada’s key cultural institutions last year, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and Téléfilm Canada are joining forces with Canada Media Fund (CMF) to build a new initiative, Canada Morning!, highlighting Canada’s innovation and partnership opportunities while positioning as trailblazers in the global animation market.

A year after their last Annecy appearance, Suzanne Guèvremont, government film commissioner and chairperson of the NFB, and Julie Roy, executive director and CEO of Téléfilm Canada, are joined by CMF President and CEO Valerie Creighton, who leads the country’s largest funder of screen-based content, including animation.

Ahead of the Festival, Variety spoke with the three executives, aligned in their goals and missions: to build the future of Canadian animation, empowering Canadian companies and championing both animation veterans and upcoming artists, while preserving its legacy for both national and international audiences.

From idea to screen: nurturing and investing in Canadian talents

At the heart of NFB’s creative strategy, “from Idea to screen” is more than a motto for Suzanne Guèvremont. “As a producer, NFB has a long history of nurturing talents and helping new voices explore the animated medium, a form of art that travels quite well and resonates with global audiences.”

Expanding on the recent success story of Academy Award winning short “The Girl Who Cried Pearls”, which debuted in Annecy last year, Guèvremont underlines that each NFB film benefits from the combined expertise of the creative and strategic teams, carefully tailored to reach the widest audience possible while retaining its singularity.

This year, NFB brings two projects to Annecy, “Ultra Strong” by filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Catherine Lepage (featuring Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson and Arcade Fire co-founder Régine Chassagne) and “The Shiatsung Project”, a feature film work-in-progress by Brigitte Archambault and Eva Cvijanovic, produced by “Death Does Not Exist” director Félix Dufour-Laperrière.

Beyond NFB, nurturing and investing in Canadian talents is also at the heart of Téléfilm Canada’s mission, joined by CMF in that regard.

Last year, Julie Roy unveiled at Annecy a new initiative for the development and export of animated feature films. Ahead of the 2026 edition, Roy confirms: “Following the success of this initiative, we’re happy to say that these envelopes will remain in place in the future, as the number of animated features submitted to Téléfilm Canada continues to grow.”

Meanwhile, CMF production funding for animated linear content jumped from C$16.8 million ($11.9 million) to C$29.4M ($20.9 million) between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026. A direct result of strategic actions taken to facilitate funding for children and youth content (which is in large part animated), according to Valerie Creighton.

“This push for animation comes at a key moment as the industry navigates headwinds like AI, rising costs, and a shifting broadcast landscape,” she adds. “CMF is actively empowering creators and producers alike with wide range of programs such as a Digital Creators Pilot, Sector Development Support, and targeted programs for Indigenous, Black, racialized, regional, and official language minority communities creators, who all contribute to growing the next generation of Canadian animation talents.

CMF’s Distributor Program, designed to offer more flexibility to CMF applicants, accounts for a large part of that increase.

Beyond the project: empowering Canadian companies and fostering (inter)national co-productions

With a record 88 Canadian executives and creators hailing from 36 different companies brought to Annecy thanks to Téléfilm Canada and its partners, the Canadian delegation is one of the strongest at this year’s Market.

That’s a testament to the efforts of Julie Roy and her teams. “It’s part of our missions to promote Canadian studios and producers, helping co-productions come to life in both feature, TV and other categories within the industry. As part of our international promotion program, we are bringing professionals to Berlin, Cannes, and now Annecy on an unprecedented scale, with a special focus on broadcasters this year.”

As part of Canada Morning, six Canadian broadcasters (CBC, Knowledge, Radio-Canada, Télé-Québec, TVO, TFO) will present an ongoing project open for co-producers and international investors, before discussing their strategies and engaging with international counterparts France Télévisions and RTBF.

“We’re very excited to bring all these broadcasters together in Annecy”, continues Roy. “Animation is a medium that matches quite well with the co-production model, especially in linear content, and I’m confident that once our guests are introduced to Annecy and MIFA, they’ll pin both events in their annual calendar. It’s also the result of projects we’ve been working on for months, years maybe, bridging between events such as Cartoon Movie and Forum, and it’s very rewarding to see these initiatives finally come together.”

Creighton fully agrees with her colleague, underlining the importance of co-production for Canadian companies in this highly competitive market.

The force behind many co-productions treaties already in place, the latest signed in April between Canada and Republic of Korea, CMF is also behind the push for more international cooperation between Canadian producers and broadcasters and their international counterparts. “Last year, we launched the Canada-Asia Pacific Co-Production Accelerator (CAPCA), sponsored by the CMF’s Sector Development Program. And it’s one of the many initiatives CMF has for Canadian broadcasters and international co-producers, facilitating funding for creating singular children and young audience content. A strategy which I’ve worked to develop with our board and the Canadian government in the last years, and that bears fruit today.”

With Canadian co-productions such as Cartoon Saloon’s “Julián” and Reza Memari’s “The Last Whale Singer” (both funded by CMF) selected in the Annecy Presents section, along with several TV series, CMF’s role in pushing the envelope for Canadian animation is abundantly clear, providing a clear support to Canadian projects, including those produced by NFB and/or backed by Téléfilm-Canada.

Canadian Animation Sells Worldwide

Following up her argument from last year, Julie Roy underlines the efforts provided by Téléfilm-Canada and its partners to bring Canadian stories to both national and international children and adults alike.

“Canadian adult animation is growing within our own audience,” she adds. “I’ve always been advocating for animation to be considered beyond a children’s perspective, and with features such as Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s ‘Death Does Not Exist’, I’m delighted to see that people are more and more open to such artistic proposals.”

Canadian-led, family-friendly projects are also traveling well both in and out Canada, the most recent example being box-office success “Night of the Zoopocalypse,” produced by Copperheart Entertainment and co-produced with France and Belgium.

According to a recent Parrot Analytics study commissioned by CMF, average demand for Canadian animation is twice the national average for all Canadian shows domestically, and 1.25 times internationally. “Even if finding audiences is always a struggle for any kind of content, these numbers seem to indicate that animation is and remains a strong Canadian cultural export,” underlines Creighton. A conclusion that mirrors Téléfilm-Canada statistics, where international sales represent 83% of total sales for animation titles, vs 63% for live-action features.

At MIFA on June 25, the two executives will share the stage to offer a deeper dive in these metrics, before opening the floor to broadcasters in a “Beyond Borders: Canada’s Global Network of Partners” panel, preceded by an exclusive showcase of six Canadian animated series projects actively looking for partners.

Preserving legacy

Looking at the future, Canada’s trailblazing institutions are also taking good care of their animated legacy. With more than 87 years of experience with the animated medium, and over 14,000 titles in its collection (7,000 of which are available free on NFB.ca), the NFB isn’t just producing films, it’s safeguarding Canada’s audiovisual heritage and sharing it with the world.

Last year, weeks only after “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” won the Oscar for best animated short, NFB completed its skillfully curated campaign by releasing the film on its streaming platform globally, allowing thousands to access the stop-motion short by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. “At NFB, we have a very clear desire to make our films available to Canadians, and then internationally. All our films are hosted there, and accessible to Canadians, making our platform an unbelievably rich archive for both animation enthusiasts and young filmmakers in search of inspiration.”

Guèvremont’s favorite short, “Ryan” by Chris Landreth, is also available on NFB’s platform, along with the thousands of memorable works by revered Canadians authors and animation veterans.

Bridging the gap

What willl 2027 look like for Canadian animation studios, broadcasters and producers alike. With its auteur-driven strategy, NFB aims to bring back strong independent visions and talented artists to the festival, such as Catherine Lepage, Brigitte Archambault and many others.

On the business side, both Téléfilm Canada and CMF are confident that this push towards broadcasters will create new opportunities for co-productions, a push that will continue at this year’s Cartoon Forum edition, where Canada is set to be the guest country.

“With the number of applications still on the rise for animation development funding, I’m really curious about what projects will emerge from our buzzing Canadian industry,” concludes Julie Roy. “Moreover, we’ve also started receiving animated projects in our Talent to Watch program, another sign of the rich and thriving community that constitutes the Canadian animation scene.”

Bridging the gap and building connections between artists, producers, broadcasters and international partners will be on each of these top-level executives’ agenda for the following week, all hailing from the welcoming Canadian Pavillion in the heart of MIFA.