LA’s Animation Is Film Festival argues animation isn’t ‘less than’

The Animation Is Film festival kicks off in L.A. this Friday.

Now in its eighth year, the three-day festival champions animation as a cinematic artform with premieres, film competitions and filmmaker panels at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood.

The festival is a chance to see some of the most anticipated animated films from around the world, all in one place. It also offers opportunities to catch sneak peeks of films that aren’t even completed yet, like Disney’s Zootopia 2.

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The Animation Is Film mission

As Animation Is Film director Matt Kaszanek explains, the festival has a mission: “What we're trying to do is to kind of combat the idea that animation is something ‘less than.’”

That idea may be surprising, given the massive success of films like Inside Out 2, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the Toy Story and Despicable Me franchises and with how well animated movies have done this year alone.

Earlier this year, Ne Zha 2 became the highest-grossing animated film in history and the first Chinese film to make more than $2 billion globally, and most recently, the latest film installment in the violent anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Infinity Castle became the highest-grossing Japanese film ever and made more globally than Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.

On streaming, KPop Demon Hunters is Netflix's most watched movie of all time and a cultural phenomenon — the film’s voice artists just made a surprise appearance in a Saturday Night Live sketch with Bad Bunny.

(The KPop Demon Hunters filmmakers will also be at the Animation Is Film Festival for a panel about the making of the film.)

Something for everyone

"Lesbian Space Princess," directed by Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese, will screen at the festival Friday.

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Courtesy Animation Is Film

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Still, Kaszanek says, animation can’t quite shake off the perception that it’s just for kids or that “it's something you can enjoy, but it's not a real movie the way that other movies are movies.”

By showcasing the wide diversity of animated films, the festival hopes to combat that view.

“Even cinephiles will have a tendency to look at animation as a block, like it's a genre,” Kaszanek says. “And that’s a crazy idea if you think about it. I mean, there's animated comedy and there's animated drama, and there's animated horror. … It's not a one size fits all thing.”

Kaszanek’s example of the wide variety of films on offer at the festival:

“Friday night, you can see a film called Scarlet, directed by an animation legend named Mamoru Hosoda," he said. "It's the opening night film, and it’s a retelling of Hamlet set in feudal Japan. But also that same night, you can see an Australian comedy called Lesbian Space Princess. And I would recommend either one of these films, but they are completely different.”

The details

The festival runs for three days — Friday to Sunday — at the TCL Chinese Theatres Hollywood.

You can check out the full film schedule and get tickets for individual films or packages of tickets here.