Acclaimed Hungarian animation and vfx studios shine in the global spotlight.

Want an Oscar nominee? Work with Hungarians!

Hungarian animation is going strong in 2025: Many of recent Oscar- and Annie Award-noimnated features and multi-award winning shorts were made at the Danube. Whether it’s 2D, 3D, vfx, co-production or service work, Hungarian animation is successful in all fields. Meet Hungarian talents and pros at Annecy Festival honoring 111 years of Hungarian animation legacy and the bold new voices that are shaping its future.

Annecy Festival, beginning on 8 June, is paying tribute to Hungarian animation. The Magyar industry brings many exciting programmes to the top event in the French Alps, including the very first DOME at Annecy, the unique ‘Hunimation Hits the Streets’ exhibition, exciting works in progress, highlighting the successes of the present and inviting festival goers and industry pros to an everlasting experience.

The story of Hungarian animation, service works and co-productions go back a long way: the first Hungarian-made series, Arthur (1962), was commissioned by the US, and Hugo the Hippo (1971), an American-Hungarian co-production, was the first full-length work by the magnificent team of Pannónia Studio. Followed by co-produced animations such as the French-Hungarian The Time Masters (1981), the American-Hungarian-UK-Japanese The Princess and the Goblin (1991), the Hungarian-German-American The Seventh Brother (1994), but contemporary works include the Israeli-Hungarian The Legend of King Solomon (2017), Slovakian-Hungarian White Plastic Sky (2023), and the North Macedonian-Croatian-Hungarian-Bulgarian John Vardar vs the Galaxy (2025).

Hungary is a favourite destination for co-productions and service works: not only in the live action sector, but also in animation. The legendary Kecskemétfilm Studio has been in the animation business for five decades, working on films as A Monkey’s Tale by Jean-François Laguionie (1999), The Bears Famous Invasion of Sicily by Lorenzo Mattotti (2019), and Oscar-nominated films as The Secret of Kells by Tomm Moore (2009), Chico & Rita by Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba (2010), The Red Turtle by Michaël Dudok de Wit (2016). The studio’s latest service work is the acclaimed 2024 feature, The Most Precious of Cargoes by Michel Hazanavicius.

Hazanavicius, the director of the five-time Oscar-winner The Artist, worked more than five years on this film, which was in the hands of Kecskemétfilm for two years. In addition to the animator-assistant work, character animation, light and shadow animation, effects drawing and almost the entire painting of the film were done at the Hungarian studio, with the participation of about 40 talents. Kecskemétfilm is a favourite creative team for European animation productions. As Ferenc Mikulás, head of the studio, said, they are passed from hand to hand: The director of The Secret of Kells recommended the studio to the makers of Chico & Rita, then to the team behind The Red Turtle, and one of the producers of the latter film was also involved in Hazanavicius’ new project – told the producer. Tomm Moore, the director of the Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells, found the Kecskemétfilm team through the famous series Hungarian Folk Tales — which have been declared a Hungaricum (a special national cultural distinction) —because he wanted to present the traditions of Ireland in a similar way than the Hungarians did their heritage.

Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó’s first feature-length film, White Plastic Sky (2023), received production support from the National Film Institute Hungary, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and the Council of Europe’s film fund Eurimages, and was co-produced by Hungary and Slovakia. Ekran Studio in Bratislava played an important role in the creation of the 3D backgrounds. The Hungarian animators built the 3D raw environment and vehicles from the director’s designs. Then the 3D team in Bratislava textured, coloured, added special effects and animated the vehicles and all the moving objects. „The Slovakian studio did a very important part of the production and they really went all out to make sure that the final result was of the highest possible quality” – said Szabó.

Production of the Czech-Slovak-Hungarian stop motion film Tony, Shelley and the Magic Light by Filip Pošivač started in 2020. The filming took place in the Barrandov studio in Prague, in a built set, and Károly Papp Kása, senior animator, joined the work very early. A significant part of the post-production phase, which required the implementation of numerous trick techniques, was carried out in Hungary, including the finalisation of the VFX and sound design, the latter under the supervision of Péter Benjámin Lukács (27, Amok, Symbiosis, Symphony no. 42).

Macedonia’s first feature-length animation, John Vardar vs The Galaxy (2025) by Goce Cvetanovski, is the result of a four-year collaboration between Northern Macedonia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia. A quarter of the film was made by Hungarian Umatik Ent., and all post-production was done in Hungary. The director met the Hungarian team at an animation networking event in the Czech Republic in 2019.

Several acclaimed episodes of Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots anthology are produced by different studios in Hungary. The Secret War, winner of the Best FX for Media/TV Annie Award, was produced at Digic Pictures in Budapest. Digic Pictures is mainly known for its trailers and cutscenes for videogames, but they also produce 3D animation and visual effects for feature films. The Netflix production was their first short film, which had only a script, and the Budapest team created its world freely, while they have created four short films for the recently published Secret Level anthology for Prime Video as well.

Very much anticipated is the internationally co-produced Fairyheart (Tündér Lala) – the director and producer will give an insight into the film’s production at Annecy -, an adaptation of the best-known tale by the popular Hungarian writer Magda Szabó. DirectorAnita Doron co-wrote the script with Attila Gigor.

The character designs for Fairyheart are created by Simón Estrada (Rick and Morty, Big Mouth). The film is produced by the Hungarian Mythberg Films in collaboration with Cinemon Ent. (HUN), Storyteller Pictures (CAN), Lakeside Animation (CAN) and Traumhaus Studios Germany. The film is supported by the National Film Institute Hungary, Eurimages, Telefilm Canada, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Creative Europe Media and Ontario Creates.

This year’s Annecy tribute to Hungarian animation program is accompanied by a brand-new English-language online platform, Hunimation.com serving as a fresh launchpad for introducing Hungarian animation to the world and building new international connections.

Hungary’s distinguished presence at the Annecy Festival was initiated by the National Film Institute to commemorate the 111st anniversary of Hungarian animation.

VIDEOS to include:

Annecy Tribute to Hungarian Animation