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The seventh edition of Animation is Film (AIF), a Los Angeles-based sister event to France’s prestigious Annecy Animation Festival, will run October 18-20 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theaters in Hollywood this fall.
Launched in 2017, “The Festival embraces the highest aspirations of animation as a cinematic art form on par with live action and is a vocal advocate for filmmakers who push the boundaries of their work to the fullest range of expression that the medium is capable of,” reads the AIF mission statement.
The festival’s executive director, Matt Kaszanek, put it more succinctly during last year’s event: “Animation Is Film is not just the name of our festival; it is its mission.”
Animation is Film fills a gap in the U.S. market, which has no dedicated animation festivals on par with those in Europe, Asia, and Canada. The annual autumn event is also becoming something of an Oscar-season bellwether.
Last year, AIF opened with Hayao Miyazaki’s eventual Academy Award winner “The Boy and the Heron” and screened a competition section that included fellow nominee “Robot Dreams.” In a small but mighty short film showcase, which sold out multiple screenings, AIF featured eventual Academy Award nominees in Tal Kantor’s “Letter to a Pig” and Yegane Moghaddam’s “Our Uniform.”
Previous editions of AIF have similarly showcased eventual Academy Award winners and aspirants, including “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “The Breadwinner,” “Mirai” and “I Lost My Body,” as well as a special screening of the Oscar-winning short “Hair Love” a work-in-progress look at Disney’s eventual Oscar winner “Encanto.”
Animation is Film is produced by Gkids in partnership with the Annecy International Animation Festival and Variety.
It’s backed by support from industry partners ASIFA-Hollywood, Cartoon Network Studios, Crunchyroll, DreamWorks Animation, ELMA, Fathom Events, Illumination, Laika, Locksmith Animation, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Paramount Animation, Pixar Animation Studios, Shout! Studios, Sony Pictures Animation, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Warner Bros. Animation – powerful backing.
