The Art of Cartoon Saloon: 25 Years and Wolfwalkers – Screening + Panel

Join us for a screening of Wolfwalkers followed by a conversation with Cartoon Saloon founders Tomm Moore, Paul Young and Nora Twomey.

The final instalment of Cartoon Saloon’s Oscar-nominated Irish folklore trilogy, Wolfwalkers was all set to open Animation Is Film in 2020. Then the pandemic arrived, and our gathering together in the dark had to pause. Six years later, Wolfwalkers arrives at AIF — with Cartoon Saloon founders Tomm Moore, Paul Young and Nora Twomey joining us from Ireland for a long-awaited reunion and the chance to experience the film together, on the big screen.

Drawing on Irish folklore and history, Wolfwalkers is visually gorgeous, mythic and utterly alive — creating a world that feels at once ancient and entirely its own. Hand-drawn lines twist and soar as the boundaries between human and animal, waking and dreaming begin to blur. At its heart is the freedom to be wild, brought to life with the visual invention and emotional generosity that has made Cartoon Saloon so beloved around the world.

Cartoon Saloon’s newly published book, The Art of Cartoon Saloon: 25 Years, celebrates their remarkable body of work, from The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea through Wolfwalkers and beyond. With Cartoon Saloon’s latest feature, Julián, making its US premiere at this year’s AIF, Tomm, Paul and Nora join us to celebrate a quarter-century of extraordinary hand-drawn storytelling — and a singular contribution to contemporary animation.