Youth Animation Film Festival of Bourg-en-Bresse

The Youth Animation Film Festival: over forty years of passion for animation

Since 1982, the Youth Animation Film Festival of Bourg-en-Bresse has worked to promote animated cinema among young audiences. Born from the initiative of the Francas, the leisure center coordination committee and the Federation of Secular Works, this pioneering festival was created to raise awareness about distribution issues for children's films and to showcase animated filmmaking.

A rich history spanning four decades

In 1981, the success of the "L'enfant et l'image" festival in Bourg-en-Bresse inspired local educational and cultural stakeholders to create a permanent event dedicated to youth animation. From its first edition in 1982, the festival has championed lesser-distributed films and cultural accessibility, with free screenings. Over the decades, it has welcomed major figures in world animation, from Charley Bowers to Tim Burton and Hayao Miyazaki.

The OCCE joined the organizing collective in 1996, strengthening the festival's educational dimension. Today, the FFAJ association coordinates this nationally recognized event.

Demanding and accessible programming

Each edition offers nearly fifty screenings over six days in Bourg-en-Bresse cinemas and cultural venues: La Grenette and Le Vox cinemas, the MCC, the Aimé Césaire and Albert Camus media libraries, and halls in Saint-Étienne-du-Bois, Péronnas and Jasseron.

The program blends recent features, previews, competition shorts and heritage films, with screenings adapted for all ages from 18 months. A jury of young middle-schoolers awards the best animated short, directly involving young viewers.

Workshops and encounters for all

Beyond screenings, the festival offers creative workshops: stop motion, optical toys, cinema quizzes — free from age 4 at the "Chalet s'anime." Internships let children and teens create animated films (ages 8–12) or try motion capture (ages 12–18). The cine-concert, a live musical performance accompanying an animated film, is a festival highlight accessible from 18 months.

Meet-the-filmmaker sessions let audiences discover the behind-the-scenes of animated creation.

A festival rooted in its territory

The festival is a major cultural player in Bourg-en-Bresse and the Ain department, collaborating with schools, leisure centers and educational structures, reaching thousands of students each year.