^{Credit: Tangles (Independent Film Company), Paper Trail (Bitter Films), Iron Boy (Sony Pictures Classics), Please (Apparat Filmproduktion, Miyu Distribution)} 

The 9th Animation Is Film Festival took place October 16-19, 2026. This year’s highlights brought a screening of Dana Terrace’s Knights of Guinevere: Episode 2, a behind-the-scenes look at Disney’s Hexed, and a special screening of Laika’s Wildwood ahead of its official U.S. premiere at AFI Fest later this week. Being a special screening, Wildwood wasn’t among the nine films entered into the festival’s official competition. That said, the competition was stacked this year, with the Grand Jury Prize ultimately going to Leah Nelson’s Tangles, a deeply moving story of a young woman slowly losing her mother to Alzheimer's disease. 

This year’s feature jury included Jinko Gotoh (Oscar-nominated producer of Klaus), Dice Tsutsumi (Oscar-nominated co-producer of The Dam Keeper), and Ramin Zahed (Editor-in-Chief at Animation Magazine). “We loved the fluid 2D animation which uses a stark monochrome framing to bring to life the personal story of a family impacted by the mother’s battle with dementia,” said the features jury (via Variety). “We were especially impressed with how director Leah Nelson and her perfectly cast voice team were able to remain faithful to Sarah Leavitt’s graphic novel which tackles a serious, painful subject with great beauty, honesty, and a gentle touch and also offers a great flashback to 1990s-era San Francisco.”

The Fumi Kitahara Special Jury Prize - named after the late great publicist - went to Louis Clichy’s Iron Boy, which previously won the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize at Cannes and three awards at Annecy.  “Iron Boy is pure beauty from the medium we all love,” said the jury. Louis Clichy’s Iron Boy was an easy stand-out thanks to its beautifully crafted water-color-like and Chinese ink-brush style visuals and how it told a story inspired by the director’s own memories of growing up in rural France. We also admired the way Clichy conveyed a world of emotions with his impressionistic visuals as well as his depiction of a young boy’s personal struggles with a physical handicap and the heartfelt portrayal of a strained father-and-son relationship which avoids sentimentality and the pitfalls of a traditional comic-of-age story.” Iron Boy won AIF's Audience Award as well. 

The short’s jury assembled Elizabeth Ito (Emmy-winning creator of City of Ghosts), Jerry Beck (ASIFA-Hollywood Vice President), and Rachel House (Gramma Tala voice in Moana). For the Shorts Jury Grand Prize, they selected Don Hertzfeldt’s Paper Trail, calling it “unique and profoundly moving.” Anna Mantzaris’ Please won the Shorts Special Jury Prize, being hailed as “a wonderfully made, funny, and tender film that captures the absurdity and very human longing for connection.”

Other shorts entered into this year’s competition included Acid City, Because Today is a Saturday, Blessed, Core Dump, Daughters of the Late Colonel, God Is Shy, Hag, It’s Not a Phase Mom, Living With a Visionary, Paradaïz, Saba, Tuna Tartare, Ultra Strong, What We Leave Behind, With Tapes and Toasts in the Car, and Winter in March.

In the feature competition, Julián, Jim Queen, Viva Carmen, The Violinist, Cherry and Virgin, Shingo Natsume’s ghost – end of night, and O filho da puta, aka Son of a Bitch were also entered. Last year, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain won AIF’s Grand Jury Prize while the Shorts Grand Jury Prize went to Gigi. Little Amélie and Arco, which won the Audience Award, went on to be nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. Tangles and Iron Boy stand a strong shot at Best Animated Feature nominations this year. Independent Film Company has picked up Tangled, while Sony Pictures Classics acquired Iron Boy. Paper Trail and Please have also won Oscar-qualifying prizes to compete for Best Animated Short. 

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Available Now!