NIAFF accepts film entries

Niigata International Animation Film Festival (NIAFF), the largest animation film festival in Asia as well as the first film festival in the world dedicated to feature-length animated movies, announces its next year’s festival dates, and has started accepting entries for its key event of film competition from July 1.

As the world’s first film festival focusing on feature-length animation and the largest animation film festival in Asia, Niigata International Animation Film Festival provides a wide variety of programs: Feature Film Competition, Retrospective screenings, Animation Camp, and numerous talk and forum events. The festival is held in the city of Niigata, the “Animation Capital of Japan”, where many creators of manga and animation originated from, including Hiroshi Okawa who founded Toei Animation and produced Japan’s first colored feature-length animation movie The Tale of the White Serpent in 1958.

NIAFF prides itself for providing opportunities to both creators and audiences to intermingle and exchange ideas in this centuries-old historical port city of Niigata which in the Meiji era boasted a population that surpassed that of Tokyo.

Tadashi Sudo, NIAFF’s Program Director, says:

We will have our third edition next year. We make a call out for the films that we have not yet seen or wish to see again on a big screen. The number of entries and visitors this year for our second edition greatly exceeded those of the first, thanks to the support and cooperation of many people who shared our goal of ‘bringing animation to as many people as possible.’ NIAFF continues to grow bigger. If you come to Niigata, you will be able to find out what’s new in the world of animation! That’s the kind of film festival we want to be.

The 3rd Niigata International Animation Film Festival will be held from March 15 – 20, 2025 in the city of Niigata, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. To enter its film competition, these are the guidelines:

• Entries must be made between July 1 midnight (JST) and November 30 midnight (JST)

• Works must be 40 minutes or longer, including end credit

• Works can use any methods of animation but the production must be completed in or after the year 2023

If shortlisted for the Feature Film Competition, your work will be screened during NIAFF and the director of the film will be invited as a guest. All shortlisted films are evaluated for awards by high-profile juries such as Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner) and Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell) who served as jury heads this year and last year respectively. The juries are to be announced.

For more information, visit https://niigata-iaff.net/en/