Singaporean animated feature The Violinist has won the top Cristal Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France.

The first film from the territory to play in competition in Annecy in 15 years, the picture is directed by Ervin Han, with Disney veteran Raul Garcia (Aladdin, Fantasia 2000) overseeing the animation.

It follows an investigation by a Spanish reporter who uncovers the intertwined lives of two lovers while investigating the origins of an old violin. It begins in Singapore in 1941 when the dreams of two young violinists, Kai and Fei, are shattered by the Japanese invasion of Malaysia during World War II.

The Singaporean-Spanish-Italian production is produced by Han’s Robot Playground, Spain’s TV ON Producciones and Italy’s Altri Occhi.

In other key prizes, Louis Clichy’s Iron Boy (Le Corset), which was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for North and Latin America, India and Southeast Asian TV out of Cannes, won the Jury Award.

Set against the backdrop of rural France, the drama follows a young boy desperate to impress his tough farmer father, who has to rethink his life after being forced to wear an iron corset when he is struck by a spinal condition.

Iron Boy also won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, which will support the release of the film in France by KMBO and the Audience Award.

Spanish director Alberto Váquez’s Decorado, about an unemployed mouse in the middle of an existential crisis who rebels against the controlled environment of his city, won the Paul Grimault Award,

This year’s main competition jury comprised Faisal Baltyuor, president of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Foundation; Mònica Garcia Massagué, head of the Catalonia International Film Festival, and Maïlys vallade, whose Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, debuted in Cannes in 2025, and went on to win the Audience Award in Annecy and was then Oscar nominated.

In the festival’s second Contrechamp competition, aimed at works pushing the boundaries of traditional animation, Dimitri Planchon and Jean-Paul Guigue’s Blaise won the Contrechamp Grand Prize.

It is the latest animated work inspired by Planchon’s comic strip following titular protagonist Blaise through his tween years through to adolescence. It world premiered in Cannes parallel section ACID.

The Contrechamps Jury Award went to Japanese animation A New Dawn by Yoshitoshi Shinomiya, which world premiered in Berlin.

It follows Keitaro who lives inside an abandoned factory once surrounded by lush forest and now redeveloped with solar panels, whose life is about to change with the building’s demolition.

The 50th Annecy International Animation Film Festival ran from June 21 to 27. Saturday night’s closing ceremony rounded off the biggest edition to date with guests across the week including Travis Knight, Brad Bird, Ricky Gervais, SS Rajamouli and Peter Lord among many more.