Anca Damian’s New Film 'Motherhood' Returns to Annecy

Motherhood is a 17-minute animated short by Anca Damian that follows a woman’s inner journey from imposed childhood rules to motherhood through memory, dreams, and surreal imagery. The Belgium-France-

Anca Damian’s 17-minute animated short Motherhood follows a woman’s inner journey through the norms and expectations she has faced since birth and toward confronting her own motherhood. Moving between memories, dreams, and surreal scenes, the film’s central approach is to deconstruct and reassemble reality. The 2026 film was selected for the official short-film competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

The film begins by refusing to present motherhood as a simple conclusion. Damian has said it is an autobiographical work rooted in her memories and dreams she actually had, exploring the traces left on a person’s identity by behavioral rules imposed from childhood and demands about ‘how one should live.’ Rather than recreating childbirth or the routines of family life, the film translates the contradictory sensations and questions stirred by motherhood into a flow of images.

A Personal Landscape Created by 2D and 3D

The official production page describes the work as a 2D–3D animated short. The art director is Italian artist Virginia Mori, while Dan Panaitescu and Mathieu Labaye served as lead animators. The format’s combination of flat and three-dimensional expression corresponds to a story in which the boundaries between memory, imagination, and reality are constantly shifting.

A Short Film Made by Three Countries

Production involved Romania’s Aparte Film, France’s Dream Vessel Films, and Belgium’s Camera-etc. Motherhood is also listed in Annecy’s official short-film competition lineup as a Belgian, French, and Romanian production. Damian previously won the Annecy Cristal in 2012 for her animated feature *Crulic – The Path to Beyond*, making this short a personal new work that brings her back to the Annecy competition.