The fourth Cardiff Animation Festival will be a celebration of animation for everyone with online and in-person events in April 2024!

Cardiff Animation Festival (CAF) will showcase some of the best animation from all over the world, with a broad selection of animated short film programmes, feature films, masterclasses, workshops, filmmaker Q+As, retrospectives, behind the scenes screenings, industry events, panels and networking events.

In-person events will be held at Chapter, the Welsh capital’s vibrant arts hub, from the 25-28 April, with online events running until May.

CAF is a focal point for Cardiff’s thriving animation community, and a meeting place for industry, independent animators and enthusiasts from the wider animation world. CAF showcases Welsh animation to the world and provides a platform in Wales for the best of British and international animation. CAF 2024 will welcome independent filmmakers, exciting new talent and established industry greats to the Welsh capital in person and remotely through its hybrid programme.

Cardiff Animation Festival is a non-profit community organisation run by a team of animation lovers and creators living in Cardiff. The Cardiff Animation Festival team have been running animation events in Wales since 2014.

Best Short
Best Student Short
Best Micro Short
Young Jury Award
Audience Award

We accept all types of animated short films including: narrative shorts, non-narrative/experimental shorts, fiction shorts, documentary shorts, undergraduate shorts, postgraduate shorts, shorts made by young people, commissioned shorts, music videos, and micro shorts from all countries worldwide. We welcome all animation techniques.

Short films submitted must not exceed 20 minutes.

The International Short Animated Film category is open to animated shorts produced in any country worldwide.

The Student Short Animated Film category is open to animated shorts produced within a public or private educational institution in any country worldwide.

The Micro Short Animated Film category is open to animated shorts produced in any country worldwide with a running time up to 120 seconds.

Filmmakers may submit more than one film and in more than one category. A separate entry form and entry fee must be submitted for each.

If your film is selected you agree for your film to be screened both online and in-venue. Online screenings will be available during the festival on Eventive. They will still be judged by an industry jury as standard.

All content screened at Cardiff Animation Festival Online is DRM protected on Eventive which will prevent users from downloading, redistributing, copying or converting content.

We don’t intend on using geo-blocking on our shorts programs online unless it is specifically requested as we want to ensure as many people have access to our programmes online as possible.

For cinema screenings we require DCP format and for online screenings we require .mov or .mp4 format.

Some films will be invited to be screened out-of-competition in our Cardiff Animation Nights screening to open the festival.

All films submitted must have been completed on or after 1st December 2021.

Films must comprise at least 50% animation to be considered.

Films featuring languages other than English must have English subtitles.

Short films already publicly viewable online are welcome and eligible for consideration.

Each applicant must be the rightful owner of submitted films and own all literary and musical rights.

If your film is selected, you allow us to use brief excerpts (stills & video clips) in promotional and marketing campaigns. We are happy to use any trailer you may have. We will not use any media from any films not selected.

The decision of the selection panel is final and we regret that we cannot enter into correspondence regarding films not selected.

Deadline for submissions is Wednesday 1st November 2023.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Laura-beth Cowley

    This is one of the most friendly laid back film festivals going. The team are enthusiastic and supportive, the festival welcomes a fantastic array of industry and independent artist providing a wealth of creativity, networking and opportunities for all.

    May 2022
  • Jemima Hughes

    A really nice and good animation festival! I'm very happy Cardiff selected my film. I could not attend the festival in Cardiff, but it was fantastic that I could watch all the films and recordings of some of the talks and masterclasses online. There were some live streamed watch parties and q&as too, where people watching could comment, and networking on the Discord server, so I did feel I could join in the festival, although I'd like to go to Cardiff in future. It seems very friendly and the programme was really interesting. It was great for me that almost everything online was subtitled.

    April 2022
  • Alisa Stern

    I'm so glad I decided to make the trip to Cardiff to attend CAF in person! Everyone was so nice and the films were amazing! The venues for the screenings and parties were also fantastic. I loved how easy it was to meet people and grab a meal in the cafe while waiting for the next screening. Go to CAF!! It's worth it.

    April 2022
  • Sascha Aerts

    Thank you so much for accepting my film! I loved the event and the communication was excellent! :)

    April 2022
  • Such a varied smorgasbord of animation, ran by a really lovely team!

    April 2022