Best Animation Films

Animation Category

Naaman Azhari Explores the Gulf Between a Mother’s Expectations and Her Son’s Reality in Rotoscoped Film ‘Threaded’

Naaman Azhari champions the creative flexibility of the bare bones live action footage underpinning the rotoscoped animation of his mother/son drama.

Animation, Music

Balázs Simon & Cátia Abreu’s ‘Wake Up Pass Out’ Finds a Zoned Out Nightclubber Encountering a Grotesque Monster

Balázs Simon & Cátia Abreu unpack the practical and digital tools that gave birth to the Cronenbergian monster in their creepy Sad Night Dynamite promo.

Animation

Harry Plowden’s Scuzzy Animation ‘All Gucci My Broski’ Chronicles a Young Man’s Filthy Inner Monologue

Harry Plowden tells DN why embarrassment was the key emotional touchstone of his short exploring the line between comedic relatability and dark misogyny.

Animation, Music

The End of the World Births a Burning Passion in Marek Partyš’ Zany Collage-Like Music Video ‘Burnout’

Marek Partyš walks DN through the extensive planning required to achieve the light and playfully surreal collage style of his Island Mint music video.

Animation, Film Festival

10 Must-Catch Shorts From 2024’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival

DN offers up ten recommended short film picks from the 2024 programme at Annecy, the world's leading film festival specialising in animation.

Animation

Tsz-wing Ho Reinterprets the Geometric Nature of Hong Kong’s M+ Museum in Abstract Animation ‘& More’

Animator Tsz-wing Ho tells DN how she deconstructed the form of the M+ Museum into her fluid shifting short exploring what underpins our material world.

Animation

Mansi Maheshwari Depicts the Nightmarish Nature of Parental Lies in Feverish Animated Cannes Short ‘Bunnyhood’

Mansi Maheshwari walks DN through how she created the intense and frenetic scrawled animation style of her manic Cannes-selected NFTS grad short.

Animation, Premiere

How a Desire for Environmental Harmony Led Emily Halaka to Create Animated Fever-Dream Short ‘Organic Matter’

Emily Halaka joins DN to discuss how she used animation to promote harmony between humanity and the Earth in her delightfully surreal ecological short.

Animation, Documentary

Journey Through a Young Woman’s Battle With Mental Health and Self-Acceptance in Melanie Cura Daball’s ‘Trust Me’

Melanie Cura Daball reveals why an ethical approach was an essential pillar in the making of her hybrid doc about her friend's battle with a bipolar diagnosis.

Animation, Documentary

How a Sextortion Scam Inspired Eugene Kolb’s Imaginative Exploration of Masturbation Shame ‘ur heinous habit’

Eugene Kolb speaks about striking the right balance between the salacious subject matter and the correlating animations of his doc about self-gratification.

Animation

An Iranian Schoolgirl Weaves Stories Into the Fabric of Her Clothes in Yegane Moghaddam’s Oscar Short ‘Our Uniform’

Yegane Moghaddam reveals the profound real-life anecdotes from Iranian schoolgirls that informed her film which began life as an animated documentary.

Animation

Jerusha & Jared Hess’ Oscar Nominated Animation ‘Ninety-Five Senses’ Is an Ode to Our Sensory Experience

Jerusha & Jared Hess take DN through their transition from live-action filmmakers to animation co-directors for their Oscar nominated short.