Animation Nights New York, Alamo Drafthouse Team To Bring Indie Animated Shorts To Theaters

Animation Nights New York and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema are teaming up on a new initiative to bring independent animated shorts into theaters as part of Alamo’s preshow programming, giving short-form animation an opportunity to play on the big screen alongside big-name mainstream features.

The collaboration pairs curated shorts from Animation Nights New York with feature film screenings at Alamo locations. The first short to screen in the program is Peter Ahern’s Buzzkill, a darkly comic animated short that we featured in 2023 for its vibrantly colored mix of modern romance and classic body horror. It’s currently playing before the horror feature Obsession at Alamo theaters nationwide.

For independent animators, theatrical exhibition opportunities remain limited outside of the festival circuit, which makes the partnership particularly noteworthy. Now, rather than simply posting their films online after festival runs have wrapped, the selected films will screen in cinemas alongside theatrical releases, reaching audiences who may not otherwise encounter independent animation in their typical online routines.

Animation Nights New York founder Yvonne Grzenkowicz said the partnership reflects the organization’s broader mission to create new distribution opportunities for animated work:

One of our goals at Animation Nights New York and ANNY Exchange is to find meaningful alternative distribution paths. We do this via in-person and online screenings, exhibitions, festivals, and industry events. We also partner with other organizations to elevate animation.

The partnership also fits naturally within Alamo Drafthouse’s longstanding approach to preshow programming, which avoids traditional advertising in favor of curated film-related content. According to the chain:

We take pride both in not running commercials in our preshow and in promoting independent work by lesser known filmmakers. Animation Nights New York has built strong relationships with animators from around the world, and we’re very excited to share our screen space with them to help advance both of our missions. Basically, we love animation, and we’re eager to get more people watching it in a communal space on a big screen!

Founded in 2015, ANNY has become one of New York’s leading showcases for independent animation, presenting monthly curated screenings of animated shorts from around the world. The organization has also championed VR, AR, XR, and interactive work since its inception. Its screenings are pay-what-you-will, and filmmakers are never charged submission fees.

This month’s lineup, Program 116, titled “Personal Space,” includes titles from around the world:

• Unlearning Motherhood, Juliana Erazo Gómez (Colombia, Netherlands)
• Solace, Sofiya Iurkevyc (Canada, Ukraine)
• Keep the Lights Off, Carina Vanessa Rodríguez (Argentina, Mexico)
• Hag, Isabella Marquart (Germany)
• Scream, Ulises Rivera (Chile)
• How To Make The Coolest Most Awesomest Toy Ever (Not Clickbait), Sara Jekely (United States)
• Inside the Square, Isomiddin Nazar Ugli Eshonkulov (Uzbekistan)
• Shorts From the Box, Géza M. Tót (Hungary)
• Grandpa, Dubravko Kastrapeli (Croatia)
• Small Hours, Oscar Wyndham Lewis (United Kingdom)

The group has also built a substantial virtual component alongside its in-person screenings, offering curated programs through its VOD and webXR platform. The online screenings have helped expand the organization’s reach far beyond New York, giving audiences access to international animated shorts, VR projects, and experimental work that can otherwise be difficult to find, and almost never all in one place.

For animators working outside the studio system, theatrical screenings can provide visibility that online releases rarely match. Projects like this also reinforce the idea that animated shorts are not simply calling cards for larger work, but a vital format with its own artistic identity and audience appeal.