'Animation Is Film' Festival Returns This October

    

It was surprising it took so long for the U.S. to get its own world class animation festival. American fans had to look on jealously at events in Annecy, Ottawa and elsewhere. That was until the establishment of the Animation Is Film Festival. Founded by GKIDS Films, Annecy International and Variety, the festival brings the best in animation from around the world to the heart of Hollywood. The festival is due to return for a seventh edition from October 18-20 at the TCL Chinese Theaters in Hollywood.

The film's opening night film is the new film Naoko Yamada (A Silent Voice) The Colors Within. from acclaimed studio Science Saru and distributed by GKIDS Films. The centrepiece on the Saturday will be the North American premiere of Warner Bros Animation's The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie from award winning director Pete Browngardt. The closing night film is the Los Angeles premiere of Adam Elliot's Memoir Of A Snail, winner of the Cristal at this year's Annecy Festival.

In it's competition section AIF includes several recent festival successes including Flow, Ghost Cat Anzu,  Boys Go To Jupiter, Sultana's Dream and Percebes. They have won accolades from festivals including Cannes, Tribeca, Annecy, Telluride and Toronto.

Other festival highlights include the North American Premiere of documentary Miyazaki, Spirit Of Nature and anime feature Mononoke The Movie: Phantom In The Rain. The festival is also holding a 15th anniversary screening of cult classic Redline. High profile studio releases will also be represented with panels and masterclasses, including Moana 2, Inside Out 2, Transformers One, The Wild Robot and An Almost Christmas Story.

“Animation Is Film is very happy to be back in Los Angeles, celebrating another year of extraordinary titles from some of cinema’s greatest international artists,” said Matt Kaszanek, Director of AIF. “To be among the first in a city, the country or even a continent to see a new work of art is a unique thrill. We are immensely proud of this year’s lineup, and delighted that Ms. Yamada and others can present their films in-person.”

Other highlights include a work-in-progress panel of the upcoming Yoppaman from Chibu Okere and Zack Fox, the popular short film selection presented in association with Women In Animation and Annecy, highlighting the best in female-directed animated shorts, plus the annual student competition.

“Through seven editions, Animation is Film has become a rendez-vous not to be missed for animation lovers and Annecy is proud of our continuing partnership. This year, audiences will find an incredible selection that celebrates the best of cinema and we are especially proud of our short films program within AIF, ‘Best of Annecy WIA,’ which will give theater-goers the opportunity to watch, among others, ‘Percebes’ by Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves, the recipient of our Cristal Award for a short film earlier this year,” said Marcel Jean, artistic director and Mickael Marin, CEO, of Annecy International Animation Film Festival. 

Tickets are available from the festival website.

2024 ANIMATION IS FILM SLATE

COMPETITION SECTION BOYS GO TO JUPITER (dir. Julian Glander/ USA/ West Coast Premiere) A surreal 3D odyssey following a teenager striving to make $5000 in Florida. Self-produced by animator Julian Glander. THE COLORS WITHIN (dir. Naoko Yamada/ Japan/ North American Premiere) - OPENING NIGHT Totsuko’s synesthesia draws her towards those with bright colors, including guitar-player Kimi and synth-player Rui. Together they form a band that shows them the power of friendship and connection. From auteur director Naoko Yamada. A GKIDS release. In-person: Director Naoko Yamada FLOW (dir. Gints Zilbalodis/ Latvia-Belgium-France/ West Coast Premiere) Told without dialogue, this fantasy adventure follows a cat at the brink of the end of the world learning to survive alongside other species. Winner of the Jury Award at 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. A Sideshow and Janus Films release. In-person: Director Gints Zilbalodis GHOST CAT ANZU (dir. Yoko Kuno & Nobuhiro Yamashita/ Japan-France/ West Coast Premiere) The budding relationship of a girl and a cat spirit stirs trouble as they seek to reconnect with her deceased mother. Helmed by directors Nobuhiro Yamashita and Yōko Kuno who used rotoscoping to animate over live action footage. A GKIDS release. In-person: TBD MEMOIR OF A SNAIL (dir. Adam Elliot/ Australia/ Los Angeles Premiere) From Academy-award winner Adam Elliot, a stop-motion drama capturing the life of a snail enthusiast as she undergoes immense hardships and learns to love herself despite them. Winner of the Cristal Award at the 2024 Annecy International Animation Is Film Festival. An IFC Films release. In-person: Director Adam Elliot SULTANA'S DREAM (dir. Isabel Herguera/ Spain-Germany/ West Coast Premiere) After stumbling upon a book that alleges a revolutionary country, Ines goes on a journey to find the illustrious Ladyland. Told against watercolor backdrops and Mehndi designs, Sultana's Dream imagines a utopian land where women live free of oppression. Based on the 1905 short story of the same name. SPECIAL SCREENINGS & STUDIO EVENTS Special Screening of THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP: A LOONEY TUNES MOVIE (dir. Pete Browngardt/USA/North American Premiere) From Warner Bros. Animation, director Pete Browngardt, and the creative team behind the award-winning “Looney Tunes Cartoons,” “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” stars Porky Pig and Daffy Duck as unlikely heroes and Earth’s only hope when facing the threat of alien invasion. In this buddy-comedy of epic proportions, our heroes race to save the world, delivering all the laugh-out-loud gags and vibrant visuals that have made the Looney Tunes so iconic, but on a scope and scale yet to be experienced. In-person: Pete Browngardt (Director) Special Screening of MIYAZAKI, SPIRIT OF NATURE (dir. Leo Favier/ France/ North American Premiere) A documentary exploring the life and influential works of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, known for films like My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, focusing on his passion for animation and advocacy for the natural world. Special Screening of MONONOKE THE MOVIE: PHANTOM IN THE RAIN (Kenji Nakamura/ Japan / US Premiere) Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain is a 2024 Japanese animated supernatural psychological horror film directed by Kenji Nakamura based on the Mononoke anime television series, which in turn is a spin-off of Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales anthology series, both created by Toei Animation. Two young girls start their service at a harem and are immediately thrown into a world full of scheming and competition, but there is something even more sinister skulking in the shadows. A mysterious man calling himself a Medicine Seller will open everyone’s eyes to just how terrifying demons of the human heart can be. Special 15th anniversary screening of Takeshi Koike’s REDLINE In honor of the seminal anime film’s 15th anniversary, Animation Is Film is proud to present a big-screen presentation of one of the most beloved titles of this century! Special screening & Filmmaker panel: AN ALMOST CHRISTMAS STORY (David Lowery / USA) Moon, a curious young owl, unexpectedly finds himself stuck in a Christmas tree destined for Rockefeller Plaza. In his attempts to escape the bustling city, Moon befriends a lost little girl named Luna. Together, they embark on a heartwarming adventure as they journey back home to their parents. Produced by Disney Branded Television and Esperanto Filmoj, “An Almost Christmas Story” is streaming soon on Disney+. In-person: David Lowery (Director) & Alfonso Cuarón (Producer) Filmmaker panel/ Masterclass: INSIDE OUT 2 In partnership with AIF’s new collaborator, Write for Animation, an in-depth conversation with writers Meg Lefauve and David Holstein focusing on the development and creation of the screenplay for Inside Out 2, the highest-grossing animated feature of all-time! In-person: Meg Lefauve and Dave Holstein (Screenwriters) Filmmaker panel: MOANA 2 Be among the first in the world to see never-before-seen footage from Walt Disney Animation’s upcoming Moana 2! In-person: TBD Filmmaker panel: TRANSFORMERS ONE Panel discussion highlighting the craft and design of TRANSFORMERS ONE through the collaboration between Paramount Animation and ILM, including the creative and technical innovations and challenges of bringing this world to life for the first time in 3D animation. In-person: Josh Cooley (Director), Jason Scheier (Production Designer), Steven King (Animation Supervisor), & Amy Christensen (Lead Character Designer) Filmmaker panel: Chris Sanders & THE WILD ROBOT details: In celebration of the new film from Dreamworks Animation, Chris Sanders sits down with Variety’s Chief Film Critic Peter Debruge for an in-depth conversation about his career, craft, and creative process. Featuring clips and commentary from fan favorites Lilo & Stitch, How To Train Your Dragon, and The Croods, as well as from the new film. Mr. Sanders will stay for a public signing session immediately following the talk. In-person: Chris Sanders Work-In-Progress: YOPPAMAN Special Agent Zack Fox introduces the world of YOPPAMAN – a society under siege by the forces of late-stage capitalism, unspeakable monsters, and growing unrest. The only chance for survival? Happy Grits – a training ground for elite super Sentai soldiers. A concept short will be shown in full, followed by a deep dive into YOPPAMAN as a true work-in-progress, revealing a more detailed origin story than previously shared publicly by co-creators Zack and Chibu. The presentation will then cover unorthodox marketing strategies, followed by an exploration of the show's ethos and target audience, ending with a Q&A session. In-person: Zack Fox & Chibu Okere (Creators) TV: INVINCIBLE FIGHT GIRL An action-comedy set in Wrestling World, a place where wrestling is more than just sport and spectacle…it's a way of life. We follow Andy, a young girl who dreams of becoming the greatest pro wrestler of all time. Assuming the wrestler alias: "Fight Girl", Andy sets out into the bizarre and colorful Wrestling World, determined to make a name for herself. Along the way, she meets cynical retired champ: Aunt P, the endearingly innocent Mikey— great wrestling analyst-in-the-making, and the unscrupulous Craig, who doesn’t so much love wrestling as he does scheming ways to profit off it. United in the goal of helping Andy achieve wrestling glory, this found family embarks on a journey filled with adversity and self-discovery as they chase their dreams, push past their limits, and most importantly…deliver smackdowns on the toughest wrestlers they can find. In-person: Juston Gordon-Montgomery SHORTS PRESENTATIONS Animation Is Film is once again proud to shine a spotlight on some of the year’s most extraordinary animated short films in three separate Short Film presentations. AWARD WINNING SHORTS: A collection of Oscar-qualifying short films from around the world, including: BEAUTIFUL MEN (France-Belgium-The Netherlands / Nicolas Keppens) - Three bald brothers travel to Istanbul to have a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair. A CRAB IN THE POOL (Canada / Jean-Sebastien Hamel & Alexandra Myotte) - A young adolescent, Zoe is a ball of anger haunted by an intimate terror. Theo, still a child, flees reality into a fantastical world. During a scorching summer day, the two children will have to burst the abscess of their relationship so as not to lose each other. NUBE (France-Mexico-Hungary / Christian Arredondo & Diego Alonso Sanchez de la Barquera Estrada) - After witnessing an old dark stormy cloud painfully rain and die in sorrow, Noma, a puffy white cloud realizes that Mixtli, her daughter, a dark stormy cloud, is in danger of raining prematurely. WANDER TO WONDER (The Netherlands-Belgium-France-UK / Nina Gantz) - In the 1980s, Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton starred in the children's television program Wander to Wonder. They are left alone in the studio after the show's originator passed away. YUCK! (France / Loic Espuche) - Yuck! Kissing on the mouth is disgusting. But secretly, little Leo really wants to try it… THE BEST OF ANNECY, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH WOMEN IN ANIMATION A collection of extraordinary short films from Annecy, curated by our partners at Women In Animation (WIA) I DIED IN IRPIN (Czech Republic-Slovakia-Ukraine / Anastasia Falileieva) - 24th February 2022, my boyfriend and I fled Kyiv to go to Irpin. We spent 10 days in a blockaded city and just managed to escape with the last evacuation convoy. Time passed, but the feeling that I died in Irpin has never left me since. IN THE SHADOW OF THE CYPRESS (Iran / Hossein Molayemi & Shirin Sohani) - Living in a house by the sea with his daughter, a former captain who has post-traumatic stress disorder leads a tough and secluded life. WINNER BEST ANIMATED SHORT, Tribeca Film Festival MAYBE ELEPHANTS (Norway-Canada / Torill Kove) - From Oscar-winning filmmaker Torill Kove, three rebellious teenage daughters, a restless mother, a father struggling with potatoes, and maybe some elephants, find themselves in Nairobi. What could possibly go wrong? PERCEBES (France-Portugal / Laura Gonçalves & Alexandra Ramires) - With the sea and the urban Algarve as a background, we follow a complete cycle of the life of a special shellfish called PERCEBES, goose barnacle. From their formation, to the dish, in this journey, we cross different contexts that allow us to better understand this region and those who live there. WINNER CRISTAL, Annecy International Animation Film Festival STUDENT SHOWCASE A showcase of films from the next generation of artists, courtesy of our Educational Partners - California Institute of the Arts; University of Southern California; California State University, Long Beach; and California State University, Fullerton. (Titles to be announced soon.) Additional Animation Is Film announcements will be coming in the days and weeks ahead.