Thank you for visiting us.
Since its inception on October 20, 2017 (with the US Premiere of Nora Twomey's The Breadwinner!) the Animation Is Film Festival has played host to some of the most essential films of the past decade. How many did you see? Were you at the historic first IMAX screening of Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron in the US? Or maybe you were among the many who gathered around Guillermo del Toro for the impromptu Q&A in the lobby of the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater after we all were booted out of the screening room so they could start the next show!
Whether it was just a single event several years ago or you’re one of those awesome faces we see at multiple screenings every year, or you're just learning about us now, we wouldn’t be here with you. You are an essential piece of this great big thing that we’ve built together, this celebration of *animation* as a cinematic art form that Variety calls the “top toon festival in Los Angeles.”
It’s been humbling to watch the festival grow with each edition, and to experience these extraordinary films with you. Premieres, works-in-progress, lively Q&As, features and shorts from new and established artists, retrospective screenings from old masters, and student work from the next generation… each festival builds atop the previous one. And the 2024 edition is the culmination of what we have seen so far.
The work featured in this year’s festival is truly among the most essential cinema of the year. And never has it been more important to celebrate the many, *many* artists who work tirelessly to bring us amazing stories and constantly re-define what the medium is capable of.
So I say again: thank you! Thank you for being part of this journey with us and thank you for your continued support of Animation Is Film - the festival, and its mission. See you all in October!
