Organisers of the International Animation Film Festival and market in Annecy (June 2-7) have announced their line up for 2003, including 218 titles in competition.

Of the record-breaking 1,309 films submitted to the festival this year, some 265 are in the official selection from 36 countries. In the official competition 218 films will vie for prizes in three major categories - shorts and features, films for television and student films.

The features in the line-up are: My Life As McDull from China's Toe Yuen; Drengen Der Ville Gore Det Umulige from Denmark's Jannik Hastrup; Kaena, La Prophetie from France and Canada by Chris Delaporte and Pascal Pinon; L'Uovo from Italy's Dario Picciau and The Legend Of The Sky Kingdom from Zimbabwe's Roger Hawkins.

A series of sidebars will include a section on Australian animation, a section dealing with handicapped people as the subjects of animated films and an erotic animation cycle entitled Spicy Animation.

Among the retrospectives are an homage to burlesque legend Charley Bowers and an homage to Weston Woods who is primarily known for his book adaptations such as Where The Wild Things Are.

Sneak previews will round out the program with Philippe Leclerc's Les Enfants De La Pluie, The Little Witch by Hayao Miyazaki, Les Triplettes De Belleville from Sylvain Chomet and documentary The Animated Century by Adam Snyder.

Mifa, the international animation film market held alongside the festival, this year expects more than 900 companies from 50 countries.

But those wanting to attend will need to book early as the G8 summit will be held in nearby Evian during the first few days of the festival.

At a press conference in Paris yesterday, organisers noted that the area will be crowded and protests in surrounding towns are likely.