Taxpayer‑funded travel took state officials to a European film festival that often advances left-wing cultural narratives, raising concerns that public dollars are subsidizing ideological tourism rather than concrete benefits for Texas.
The Texas Film Commission posted online that staff, along with “friends from Minnow Mountain and Powerhouse Animation Studios,” attended the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market in Annecy, France. The festival ran from June 21-27.
“While there we connected with the global animation industry and represented Texas on an international stage,” the post reads. “We were proud to showcase the incredible work of the Texas animation industry. Au revoir y’all!”
The Annecy Festival is considered the world’s leading festival dedicated to animation film. According to its website, the event is intended to gather “the biggest names in the sector” and celebrate creative and diverse animation styles and techniques.
Included in this year’s lineup of animated works were several that pushed progressive cultural narratives, including LGBT themes.
One example is “Lesbian Simulator,” an interactive virtual reality artwork and video game that the festival website says “immerses the user in the experiences of a lesbian girl” and serves as “an ode to sexual orientation and love with a serious issue: the discrimination that lesbians still face today.”
“Zsazsa Zaturnnah” was also shown and tells the story of Ada, a gay beautician from a small town in the Philippines. When a meteorite crashes to earth, he swallows the stone and transforms into the female superhero, Zsazsa Zaturnnah.
Running alongside the festival was the Annecy International Animation Film Market. A roundtable called Queens and Superheroes included Avid Liongoren, director of “Zsazsa Zaturnnah,” as well as Marco Nguyen and Nicolas Athané, co-directors of the animated film “Jim Queen,” which also focuses on LGBT themes.
The roundtable explored “how superhero narratives can become powerful vehicles for queer representation.”
Gov. Greg Abbott’s press office, which the Texas Film Commission directs media inquiries to, told Texas Scorecard that the commission attended the Annecy International Animation Film Festival to “promote Texas animation and film production capabilities and to connect Texas-based studios with international opportunities.”
“Staff participated alongside Texas companies to represent the state’s growing sector on a global stage,” said Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary for the governor. “The Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office supports targeted economic development efforts that aim to create jobs and investment in Texas, with appropriate oversight of all Commission activities.”
The governor’s office declined to provide the cost of the trip.
The Texas Film Commission was created in 1971 to encourage the development of the film and communication industry in Texas. Since its founding the commission has expanded to include “the television, commercial, video game, animation, visual effects, and extended reality (AR, VR, MR) industries.”
The commission is responsible for overseeing the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program. Last year, state lawmakers provided $1.5 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies to the TMIIIP over the course of a decade.
