Common questions about animation contests and film festivals asked by our readers:
There are more than 3,000 active film festivals worldwide and more than 10,000 have run at least once over the past 20 years. Many of the 3,000+ active film festivals accept animated film submissions. A few popular options include Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Los Angeles Animation Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, London International Animation Festival, Animation Block Party, and Holland Animation Film Festival.
Some of the best student animation film festivals are the Los Angeles International Student Film Festival, Pasadena, California; CineYouth Film Festival, The Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago, Illinois; Reality Bytes Independent Student Film Festival, DeKalb, Illinois; Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival, Los Angeles, California; Seattle TransMedia & Independent Film Festival (STIFF), Seattle, Washington; WorldFest Houston, Houston, Texas; Animation Block Party, Brooklyn, New York; Ottawa International Animation Festival, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; SIGGRAPH, Los Angeles, California, and South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, Austin, Texas.
Some of the best film festivals for submitting animated short films are Aspen Shortfest, Animation Block Party, The Chicago International Film Festival, Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival, Seattle TransMedia & Independent Film Festival (STIFF), SIGGRAPH, South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, Animation Nights New York, and LA Shorts Fest.
The top animation film festivals around the globe are Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Annecy, France; Animafest Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia; Ottawa International Animation Film Festival, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (International TrickFilm Festival - ITFS), Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Holland Animation Film Festival, Utrecht, Netherlands; Hiroshima, Hiroshima City, Honshu Island, Japan; Anima Mundi, Rio de Janiero & Sao Paulo, Brazil; Fantoche, Baden, Switzerland; Animac, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain; Anifilm, Trebon, Czech Republic.
There are more than 40 top Oscar qualifying film festivals for animators. Examples include Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film, Atlanta Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest, Animafest Zagreb, Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Melbourne International Animation Festival, Rhode Island International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, LA Film Festival, Siggraph, Leeds International Film Festival, Calgary International Film Festival, Guanajuato International Film Festival, Cinequest Film Festival, Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Flickerfest, Seattle International Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, and Holland Animation Film Festival.