Animation is Film announces 2024 line-up

My favorite festival of the year is Animation is Film, the animation fest that takes over the Chinese Theater in Hollywood for a weekend in late October every year. Today, they announced their lineup for 2024, and it is fantastic. (I think this is the first year where I've already seen one of the competition titles -- the lovely Sultana's Dream.)

 I've been going for I think four years now, and I'm always really impressed by the programming. There are always some higher-profile movies -- last year, The Boy and the Heron had its LA premiere at the fest, and Oscar hopefuls Flow and Memoir of a Snail are playing this year -- and lots of more obscure ones. GKIDS, as a founding partner, always has a strong presence. This year, they're showing off The Colors Within and Ghost Cat Anzu.

Memoir of a Snail

In addition to the impressive slate of features, the bigger studios usually program some special programs. This year, there are Masterclass programs spotlighting Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot, and Transformers One featuring some of the filmmakers behind these Hollywood behemoths. Disney is also providing a behind-the-scenes look at the much-anticipated Moana 2 and a look at their holiday short, An Almost Christmas Story.

Some great shorts programs, Adult Swim's upcoming show Invincible Fight Girl, and a WIP look at the upcoming Yoppaman show round out the lineup. Basically, there's something for everyone.

Here's the full lineup of feature playing at Animation is Film this year (shout-out to Cartoon Brew for the formatting):

Feature Competition Lineup

• Boys Go to Jupiter – Julian Glander (USA)
• The Colors Within – Naoko Yamada (Japan)
• Flow – Gints Zilbalodis (Latvia, Belgium, France)
• Ghost Cat Anzu – Yoko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita (Japan)
• Memoir of a Snail – Adam Elliot (Australia)
• Sultana’s Dream – Isabel Herguera (Spain, Germany)

Special Screenings and Studio Events

• The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie – Pete Browngardt (U.S.)
• Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature – Leo Favier (France)
• Mononoke The Movie: Phantom In The Rain – Kenji Nakamura (Japan)
• Takeshi Koike’s Redline 15th Anniversary screening
• Inside Out 2 screenwriting masterclass w/ Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein
• Moana 2 filmmaker panel with sneak peek footage
• Transformers One panel w/ Josh Cooley (director), Jason Scheier (production designer), Steven King (animation supervisor) and Amy Christensen (lead character designer)
• Chris Sander interview session about The Wild Robot and his career
• Yoppaman work-in-progress session with creators Zack Fox and Chibu Okere
• Invincible Fight Girl TVseries preview with creator Juston Gordon-Montgomery
• An Almost Christmas Story with director David Lowery and producer Alfonso Cuarón

Short Films

• Award-winning shorts screening including Beautiful Men (Nicolas Keppens), A Crab in the Pool (Jean-Sebastien Hamel, Alexandra Myotte), Nube (Christian Arredondo, Diego Alonso Sanchez de la Barquera Estrada), Wander to Wonder (Nina Gantz), and Yuck! (Loic Espuche)
• Best of Annecy screening including I Died in Irpin (Anastasia Falileieva), In the Shadow of the Cypress (Hossein Molayemi, Shirin Sohani), Maybe Elephants (Torill Kove), and Percebes (Laura Gonçalves, Alexandra Ramires)
• Student showcase of Southern California schools including films from Calarts, University of Southern California, California State University Long Beach; and California State University Fullerton

Here's what I'm going to see:

Friday
The Colors Within

Saturday
Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature
Ghost Cat Anzu
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Mononoke The Movie: Phantom in the Rain

Sunday
Memoir of a Snail

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie

Animation is Film takes place at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood October 18-20.