The 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival will go ahead as planned on June 11. But organizers said they will postpone for a day the festival’s open-air screenings following a knife attack in the city last Thursday, in which a man assaulted a group of nursery school-age children.
In a statement, Dominique Puthod and Mickaël Marin, the chairman and CEO of Annecy organizers CITIA, along with the festival’s artistic director Marcel Jean said they and the entire festival team were “shaken to the core” by the attack, in which a man assaulted bystanders in a park in the alpine city, wounding six people, including four young children. The four children received life-threatening injuries and are currently being treated in local hospitals as well as in neighboring Switzerland, local authorities said.
“It has now been established that this was an isolated act,” Annecy organizers said, noting that after “consultation with the authorities and [Annecy] Mayor François Astorg” the festival had decided to open as planned on Sunday. “However, as a gesture of support to the families and victims, the festival management and team have decided to postpone the open-air screenings until Monday 12th June. The festival screenings will reflect the values that they have always endorsed: sharing, solidarity and fraternity.”
The seemingly random attack took place in the large lawned lakefront recreational area known as Le Pâquier, which Annecy uses as the site for its open-air screenings. The attack has attracted national and international attention, with French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and interior minister Gérald Darmanin making an emergency visit to the city.
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