Debuting in 1969, the ASIFA-East Animation Festival is one of the longest running festivals of its kind. Our festival is a unique showcase for the most groundbreaking independent and commercial animation being produced in the industry today.

Every year, short films are submitted by filmmakers and judged during jury screenings by the members of our organization. Although these events are free and available to the public, only current ASIFA members are able to take part in the voting process to democratically rate and choose the festival finalists. Archived video of each program will be available for voting members, and digital ballots will be provided. We invite members to vote as they watch the films, or take notes during the program so they can fill out the survey at their leisure.

After the votes are tallied, the festival winners are announced at an awards ceremony in the Spring, a theatrical screening with a lively reception, where award winners, members of the industry, and lovers of animation can meet one another, network, and enjoy a few refreshments.

In Person Screenings: Stay tooned for any information about future virtual and in-person screenings.

Awards & Prizes

There are categories of Independent Film, Commissioned Work, Student Film, Experimental Film and Music Videos, with First through Third prizes.*

There are Craft awards for Writing, Animation, Education, Soundtrack, and Design (with one prize in each). Our “Best in Show” (highest rated) winner receives the coveted Peggy Award statuette (Student Films not eligible).*

*The final decision for all awards will be made by the Festival Committee, based on the results of judging by the membership of ASIFA-East. In some circumstances, including overall quantity and/or quality of submissions, awards may tie, and/or greater or fewer prizes may be issued.)

Rules & Terms

Please read our NEW RULES AND TERMS carefully for the 2025 year! In particular, STUDENT films!

WARNING: We are only accepting entries from the United States of America, as our festival focuses on the Northeast of our country.

ELIGIBILITY:
- Film must have been produced after July 1, 2023, and must be received no later than Feb. 14th, 2025, accompanied by a completed entry form and all entry fees.
- Film must not have been entered in previous ASIFA-East festivals. Films must be received by the deadline to be considered.
- At this time, we are only accepting entries from the United States of America, as our festival focuses on the Northeast of our country.
- Films longer than 22 minutes will be asked to provide an excerpt of 5-10 minutes.

Student Films
- In order to highlight local talent, we are only accepting student films from the Northeast region of the USA, specifically the following states:
- New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, and Pennsylvania.
- Student Films longer than 7 minutes will be asked to provide an excerpt of 5- minutes.

FILE FORMAT:
- Please provide a link to the downloadable video. Videos must use the H.264 codec and follow the compression guidelines at Vimeo Help.
- We have a 1GB file size cap per entry [file size can exceed limit if film is over 10 minutes, on a case by case basis].

Entries that do not follow these guidelines will be disqualified.

Please email us at asifaeastfestival@gmail.com if you need advice.

RIGHTS: Work(s) submitted to, and selected for, the ASIFA-East Animation Festival is/are intended for public exhibition by ASIFA at the ASIFA-East Animation Festival, including its juried screenings and awards ceremony, and/or partner ASIFA National Groups strictly in the context of not-for-profit, ASIFA-curated events intended primarily for active ASIFA members and at which no admission shall be charged, income realized, consideration provided, or attribution provided beyond that which appears in the Work(s). Screening lists may be published. ASIFA-East warrants that it shall not otherwise exhibit, sell, or distribute any submitted Work(s) without express written agreement with the rights-holder. By submitting Work(s) to the ASIFA-East Animation festival you permit and warrant that you are fully authorized to permit such exhibition of the Work(s) as provided above. ASIFA-East will not be responsible for infringements of rights of entries accepted for screening by the jury.
6 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Shengwei Zhou

    So honored to be included!

    July 2024
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  • Briana Santiago (lary)

    Was a great experience being chosen and seeing Pekoe Productions first collaborative project being screened online with so many other great works!

    May 2024
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  • James Middleton

    The best sort of festival is where you have a combination of those who make the films with those who love films that are made - and at ASIFA-EAST, you have BOTH on BOTH sides of the competition. The judges and viewers "get" the inside jokes, the sly reference, the amount of work for even a short film - and every film is, as a result, a properly fated and feted by folk who have danced the dance. Cookies and cartoons - you may scorch them on occasion, not follow the recipe, but there's always something for everyone's taste with this celebration.

    May 2024
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  • Alba Enid Garcia

    Amazing festival, specially because industry talents get to vote on the best films. It is an honor!

    May 2024
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  • Chance Calloway

    A wonderful festival to be included in.

    May 2024
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