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During the Annecy Festival & MIFA press conference, we learned more details about the organization of the 2024 edition, taking place in June. As a reminder, MIFA is the film market, aimed at professionals.
MIFA will be even bigger this year: 11,000 square meters, which is 1,000 square meters more than in 2023.
MIFA will be distributed across four locations:
- The exhibition floor, the heart of the event, next to the Imperial Palace.
- The Imperial Congress Center, with multiple conference rooms;
- The “Chambre du Commerce”, located about 10 minutes away from the Imperial Palace on foot (shuttle services are also planned), will host a newly created XR&Games area on several floors.
- MIFA Campus, aimed at students, will take place close to the Imperial Palace.
Let’s delve into the details.
Exhibition floor: hiring is down
Véronique Encrenaz, head of MIFA, told us that 190 booths are planned: about 15 more than last year, thanks to an optimized layout.
It should be noted that the crisis affecting the animation industry has visible effects: there will be fewer recruitment booths (only about ten compared to about 15 last year), and their size is often reduced. We also learned that about 15 animation schools booths are planned.
The New Technologies area is back, with a wide range of technologies.
Finally, it should be noted that the exhibition floor will be more diverse: more African countries are attending the MIFA, Australia will have a booth, many studios from Eastern Europe have also planned to come, and China is making a comeback.
Conferences and Meetings
Multiple “Studio focus” conferences have been announced. Studios such as Fortiche and Bobbypills will showcase their latest and upcoming projects. Industry Panels have also been announced, on topics ranging from stop-motion to AI, the future of Japanese animation, platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, the links between dance and XR experiences, and documentaries. About forty projects will be highlighted in the MIFA Pitches (with gender parity respected). Over 760 projects were submitted, the selection was therefore quite drastic.
Other MIFA classics are also returning: Share With sessions, which are an opportunity for channels and platforms to explain their acquisition needs, and Meet The sessions, which are a chance to meet festival programmers, publishers, composers, agents, producers, etc.
A new space dedicated to immersive technologies and gaming: XR&Games
The XR&Games space is a major new feature this year, with 4 floors and 1,000 square meters of space at the Chambre de Métiers. Conferences, demo sessions, WIP XR, pitching sessions, a VR viewing area, and a video game showroom have been announced, among other things.
MIFA Campus
Finally, within the MIFA Campus space, you’ll find a wide range of content including recruitment sessions and conferences giving the floor to recruiters. A segment that is likely to attract a lot of attention, given the current difficulties of the animation industry.
For more information
Part of the program is already online. If this is your first MIFA, we recommend exploring the official website to get a better understanding of the event.
More information will be provided in the coming weeks, such as the list of exhibitors, details on conferences, and the XR&Games space.
Meanwhile, we can already announce that the 3DVF team and our partner Progiss will be present at booth A36, on the floor of the main marquee. Do not hesitate to visit us!
