LA’s Animation Is Film Festival Announces Initial Feature Competition Line-up

A major animation festival is coming to Los Angeles for the first time in many years. The inaugural edition of Animation Is Film is set to to take place October 20-22 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theater in Hollywood.

Uniquely, Animation Is Film is dedicated primarily to animated features, a reflection of the incredible growth and quality of recent foreign animated features from regions like Asia, Europe, and South America. The festival is produced by GKIDS in partnership with Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Variety.

In advance of the full festival line-up, which will be released on September 20, the festival organizers have announced an initial line-up of eight features that will be screened in competition. Among those films are many of the season’s key Oscar contenders. The films are:

• The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales (U.S. Premiere)
  Directors: Patrick Imbert, Benjamin Renner, France, 2017
• Big Fish and Begonia(North American Premiere)
  Directors: Liang Xua, Zhang Chun, China, 2016
• Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Los Angeles Premiere)
  d. Alberto Vázquez & Pedro Rivero, Spain, 2015
• The Breadwinner (U.S. Premiere)
  d. Nora Twomey, Ireland/Canada, 2017
• Lu Over The Wall (North American Premiere)
  d. Masaaki Yuasa, Japan, 2017
• Mary and the Witch’s Flower (North American Premiere)
  d. Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Japan, 2017
• Tehran Taboo (North American Premiere)
  d. Ali Soozandeh, Germany, 2017
• Zombillenium (North American Premiere)
  d. Arthur de Pins & Alexis Ducord, France, 2017

Besides screenings, the festival will also include red carpet premieres, filmmaker Q&As, receptions, both juried and audience awards, and other special events.

The jury chair will be Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge, with the rest of the jury comprised of Allison Abbate (EVP of Animation Warner Brothers Pictures and producer on The Iron Giant, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Lego Movie), Bonnie Arnold (DreamWorks Animation producer, How to Train Your Dragon), Jorge R. Gutiérrez (director, Book of Life), Charles Solomon (film critic/historian), and Mabel Tam (head film buyer, Landmark Cinemas).

Tickets for the festival go on sale starting September 20 at AnimationIsFilm.com.