Cardiff Animation Festival Unveils 2026 Lineup, Including Largest-Ever Shorts Competition

The Cardiff Animation Festival (CAF) has revealed its full program for the upcoming 2026 edition, which returns to Chapter Arts Centre from April 23–26, featuring an expanded lineup spanning films, games, and live events.

Now in its ninth year, the Welsh festival continues to spotlight work from around the world while also platforming emerging voices. This year’s short film competition is its largest to date, with 98 films selected from more than 700 submissions. The program is split across eight strands — Play, Pause, Rewind, Mute, Home, Shuffle, Late Night, and Welsh Work — and will be judged by Pip Williamson, Sarah Schmidt, and Nia Edwards-Behi. The full lineup can be found here.

The 2026 edition of CAF has joined forces with Japan’s Kotatsu Festival to spotlight Japanese animation, presenting special screenings of two former Annecy players, The Last Blossom and 100 Metres.

More than just a festival, CAF also hosts an industry day featuring panels on commissioning, feature development, and digital-first storytelling. A special session with Copa Gaming targets early-career advice for landing jobs.

This year’s festival will further expand its games programming, with sessions from the teams behind the BAFTA-winning Thank Goodness You’re Here and BAFTA-nominated The Midnight Walk, plus an exhibition of playable works and puppets.

Live events remain central to the CAF identity, with highlights including Sketch Showdown, a live drawing game, and Rainbow Road Rumble, a large-scale Super Mario Kart competition. Filmmaker Gerald Conn will present Sand On Screen, combining performance and process before a live audience.

Additional programming includes a collaboration with the Abertoir Festival exploring animated horror, a live-scored performance by Welsh artists Casi Wyn, Efa Blosse-Mason, and Lleucu Non, and a screening of the Oscar-nominated feature Little Amélie, or the Character of Rain.

Festival director Lauren Orme said of this year’s edition:

Cardiff Animation Festival is all about bringing people together through animation, and this year’s programme is our most playful and packed yet. We’ve got beautiful films, brilliant guests, live performances, creative workshops, and fun surprises. Whether you’re an animation fan, an industry professional, a budding animator, a film lover, or just curious, we’d love you to join us at Chapter this April and experience the joy of animation.

The festival closes April 26 with the Best of the Fest Awards, hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Ali Plumb.