This January, celebrate the eighth edition of Animation First, the biggest animation festival in the United States! This year's festival will run from Tuesday, January 21 through Sunday, January 26, and will present seven feature-length films and five short film programs, with a special focus on Swiss animation. Curators Delphine Selles-Alvarez and Chloe Dheu explain, "The 2025 edition of Animation First offers a bold mix of features, shorts, talks, and VR that range from family-friendly to experimental and off the charts. Playful, serious, engaging, and at times radical, the festival will transport audiences to places far and wide."

This year, the festival presents seven feature-length films (including three U.S, two New York, and one East Coast Premiere) and five short film programs. Fifteen guests from around the world join us for filmmaker talks, a first look presentation, and QandA discussions. Back by popular demand, Animation Speak/Easy joins us for the second year in a row, as does our juried competition of the new Francophone shorts programs. The festival will also feature virtual reality experiences, our annual Student Short Film Competition, and even an interactive make-your-own stop-motion experience for guests in the Tinker Lounge. We're also thrilled to have Swiss animator and director Georges Schwizgebel design our second-annual limited-edition Animation First series poster.  

With films for adults, teens, and kids, the festival is crafted to engage and entertain guests of all ages throughout nearly a week of programming. Buy your festival pass today!

Schedule of Events:

11:00 am - 6:30 pm: Virtual Reality

Throughout the festival, L'Alliance New York's Library will be free and open to the public for virtual reality experiences from French studios and distributors, including Ito Meikyu by Boris Labbe, Grand Prize winner at Venice Film Festival.

Ito Meikyu
by Boris Labbe, 2024, France, 20min
US Premiere

Ito Meikyu, which loosely translated means "wandering thread," is a virtual reality experience that develops around references from Japanese art history and literature (The Fukinuki Yatai, The Tale of Genji, The Pillow Book) and unfolds as a large sensory fresco with strong emotional potential. A set of drawn, animated, and sound scenes together recreate a kind of subjective world in the form of a labyrinth. The virtual wandering space-composed of fractal architectures, and inhabited by plants, objects, animals, men, women, motifs and calligraphy-allows us to access different scenes based on the randomness of our choices. The result is a kind of hide-and-seek game with the user as the omniscient spectator.

12:00 pm: New Francophone Shorts Program 2

The eclectic New Francophone Shorts (NFS) programs bring together the best of new animated creations from emerging and established filmmakers. Selections are chosen from lauded festivals including the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Anima-The Brussels Animation Film Festival, and Les sommets du cinema d'animation. Each film exhibited is in competition for Best New Francophone Short. This year's jury is composed of Bill Plympton, Karlotta Frier, and Noelle Melody. The NFS programs are co-curated by filmmaker Michael Enright and festival curators Chloe Dheu and Delphine Selles-Alvarez.

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1:45 pm: Artist Talk: In Conversation with Boris Labbe

Artist Boris Labbe has created a rich ensemble of works characterized by hybridization, combining digital moving image techniques with those specific to animated film. This approach, somewhere between traditional and innovative, forms an original and vibrant language which he has shared through various gallery and virtual reality installations, as well as short films. In this talk, Labbe will discuss his work as it pertains to various artistic fields, detailing recurrent themes and specific areas of exploration. He will present several of his short films and discuss his latest work, Ito Meikyu, which won the Venice Immersive Grand Prize in 2024, and the upcoming VR experience, and Precieuses Chimeres, a project at the intersection of art, AI, and biodiversity.

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2:15 pm: My Life as a Zucchini

By Claude Barras, 2017, Switzerland, France, 66min, DCP
Voiced by Gaspard Schlatter, Sixtine Murat, Estelle Hennard, Michel Vuillermoz
In French with English subtitles

After his mother's sudden death, Zucchini is sent to a foster home with other young orphans. At first, he struggles to find his place but with newfound friends, Zucchini eventually learns to trust and love, as he searches for his new family. From its debut in Director's Fortnight at Cannes, to winning awards at festivals around the world, this accomplished debut feature from director Claude Barras, based on a script from acclaimed writer/director Celine Sciamma (Girlhood, Tomboy, Portrait of a Lady on Fire), was nominated for both an Academy Award® and Golden Globe Award® for Best Animated Feature.

Part of Animation First's focus on Swiss Animation

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3:45 pm: First Look: Dandelion's Odyssey

Filmmaker Momoko Seto will share the creative process behind her first feature, Dandelion's Odyssey, an action-adventure film which she shot in France, Japan, and Iceland with a mix of macro live action and 2D/3D animation. An epic tale of displacement and survival, Dandelion's Odyssey follows a dandelion ball on its quest for a suitable habitat after Earth's destruction. Scored by composer Nicolas Becker (Sound of Metal, Gravity), Dandelion's Odyssey is one of the most anticipated animated films of 2025. Seto will lend her expertise spanning the crossroads of art and science, and discuss how her work is actively engaged with larger scientific debates on biodiversity and the impact humans have had on the Earth.

5:15 pm: Marina Rosset: The Enchanting Power of Animation

This program of shorts puts the spotlight on the work of award-winning Swiss filmmaker and editor Marina Rosset, along with selected works from her contemporaries. A mid-career artist, Rosset has created poetic, magical and stunningly beautiful films. Together, the program speaks to the originality of Rosset's work and the wealth of contemporary Swiss animation.

Following the screening, Marina Rosset will discuss her work and the role of Swiss animation.

Part of Animation First's focus on Swiss Animation

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8:15 pm: The Time Masters

Preceded by Closing Night Party and Award Ceremony at 6:30pm-8:15pm

The Time Masters
By Rene Laloux, 1982, restored 2023, France, 79min, DCP
In French with English subtitles

Directed by Rene Laloux (Fantastic Planet) and designed by Jean Giraud (Mœbius), The Time Masters is a visually stunning existential space adventure. After his parents are killed on the dangerous planet Perdide, young Piel survives by keeping in touch with Jaffar, a pilot escorting an exiled royal family. Jaffar recruits Silbad, a guide familiar with the planet's hazards, to help them navigate their journey. Along the way, they encounter strange and mysterious creatures and beings, who may reveal their true origins.

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