The Ottawa International Animation Festival Has Released Its Full 2025 Lineup

This year’s festival received 2,850 submissions from 99 countries, a significant increase from last year’s 2,308. From these, six feature films and 79 shorts, including animated series, were selected for official competition.

Eighteen Canadian student films and 14 Canadian panorama films were chosen for domestic selections showcasing the country’s animation talent. The festival’s official competition, a central highlight, will present animated shorts in eight categories, alongside feature films, judged by an international jury of six members. Separate juries will also evaluate the Shorts, Features, and Kids Competition sections, with the Kids jury made up of local Ottawa children.

Award winners will be announced during the festival’s Awards Ceremony on Saturday, September 27, at the National Arts Centre. Major awards include Grand Prizes for Short and Feature Animation, alongside several category-specific honors, such as Best Narrative Short and Best Student Animation. Craft awards will also recognize excellence in scriptwriting, sound design, and animation techniques. Additional distinctions, like the WACOM Public Prize and the CFI Award for Best Canadian Animation, highlight both audience favorites and national achievements.

All award-winning films will be showcased at the Best of Ottawa 2025 screenings on Sunday, September 28, at the ByTowne Cinema.

Bellow is the complete list of selections for OIAF’s 2025 edition. For more information about this year’s festival, visit www.animationfestival.ca.

Canadian Panorama

• A Flame the Colour of Air | Emily Pelstring
• Cavalerie étourdie (Dizzy Cavalry) | Patrick Doyon
• Ce qu’on laisse derrière (What We Leave Behind) | Alexandra Myotte & Jean-Sébastien Hamel
• HECKIN’ WEENS | Vinson Chan
• Hypersensible (Hypersensitive) | Martine Frossard
• Imprint | Duncan Major
• King Kong vs. Pinocchio | Janet Perlman
• Lessons On Flight | Cecilia Araneda
• Mangittatuarjuk (The Gnawer of Rocks) | Louise Flaherty
• Panoptic | Katie Finn
• Rabid Beach | Jesi Jordan
• Sosuke the Duck | bekky O’Neil
• Still Moving | Rui Ting ji
• Window | Andreas Fobes

Commissioned Animation

• 18th ZubrOFFka International Short Film Festival ‘Signal Film’ | Sander Joon | Estonia, Poland
• 37 Filmfest Dresden 2025 Trailer | Petra Stipetić | Germany
• Across My Jaw | Isabelle Aspin & Brian Smee | United States
• Allied ABLE | Christopher Rutledge & Dan Hanafin | United States
• Avec pas d’casque ‘Cardinal’ | Joël Vaudreuil | Canada
• Camel Power Club ‘Dont Make It a Song’ | Stefano Bertelli | Italy
• CNESST ‘Qu’à un fil’ (CNESST ‘Hanging By A Thread’) | Dale Hayward | Canada
• Daftar Yaddasht (Notebook) | Aghil Hosseinian & Sogol Sanago | Iran
• Desi Oon | Suresh Eriyat | India
• Join | Brennan Bova | Canada
• Naive New Beaters ft. Star Feminine Band ‘Ye Kou Si Kuo’ | Lola Lefèvre | France
• Nap Eyes ‘Dark Mystery Enigma Bird’ | Jordan Minkoff | Canada
• Natlan Impressions Trailer ‘Blaze to Natlan’ | Thomas Schmid & Junyi Xiao | United States

Narrative Shorts

• 啤酒的滋味 (A Taste of Beer) | Li Xie | China
• Basketball Explorer Presents: The Shot Doctor | Keith Pakiz | United States
• Bread Will Walk | Alex Boya | Canada
• Dark Globe | Donato Sansone | Italy, France
• Dollhouse Elephant | Jenny Jokela | Finland
• Existential Greg | Will Anderson | United Kingdom
• I Beg Your Pardon | John W. Lustig | United States
• ICan’t | Renato Klieger Gennari | Brazil
• Il burattino e la balena | Roberto Catani | France, Italy
• Kiievi Tort (Kyiv Cake) | Mykyta Lyskov | Estonia, Ukraine
• La jeune fille qui pleurait des perles (The Girl Who Cried Pearls) | Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski | Canada
• La vie avec un idiot (Life With an Idiot) | Theodore Ushev | France
• Luna Rossa | Priit Pärn & Olga Pärn | Estonia, France
• Off-Time | Nata Metlukh | United States, Japan, Ukraine
• Paradaïz | Matea Radic | Canada
• Paul Y Sus Amigos (Paul and His Friends) | Rafael Esteban Trujillo | Spain, United States
• Pobre Marciano (Poor Marciano) | Alex Rey | Spain
• Quota | Job, Joris & Marieke | Netherlands
• Rakugaki (The Graffiti) | Ryo Orikasa | Japan
• S The Wolf  | Sameh Alaa | France
• Shadows | Rand Beiruty | France, Jordan
• Soixante-sept millisecondes (Sixty-Seven Milliseconds) | fleuryfontaine | France

Non-Narrative Shorts

• Body Burden | Ben Fox | United Kingdom
• Dédé (Ancestor) | Yasmine Djedje-Fisher-Azoume | United Kingdom
• Evacuations | Lilli Carré | United States
• Fusion | Richard Reeves | Canada
• Green Lung | Simon Hamlyn | United Kingdom
• How | Marko Mestrovic | Croatia
• 普通の生活 (Ordinary Life) | Yoriko Mizushiri | France, Japan
• States of Matter | Marvin Hauck | Netherlands
• Долго доаѓање на огнот (The Long Coming of the Fire) | Zharko Ivanov | North Macedonia
• The Weaver | Yiorgos Tsangaris | Cyprus

Student Animation

• Anklebones | Nicole Altan | United States
• 海星，乌鸦，独角兽 (Crow, Starfish, and Unicorn) | Xiaoxuan Han | China
• გაბნეული შუქები (Lights, Haze) | Tata Managadze | Belgium, Finland, Georgia, Portugal
• マミ子のウン子 (Mamiko’s Poop) | Yasuteru Ohno | Japan
• Mother’s Child | Naomi Noir | Netherlands
• Poppy Flowers | Evridiki Papaiakovou | Estonia
• The 12 Inch Pianist | Lucas Ansel | United States
• Two Point Five Stars | Sina Lerf, Dario Marti & Dario Boger | Switzerland
• Vogelleben (Bird Life) | Lukas Wind | Estonia

Canadian Student

• 3 x 2³ | Justin Lemay | Concordia University
• Blindfold | Peter De Souza-Samanek | OCAD University
• Bouteille Fusée (Bottle Rocket) | Yann Le Bihan | Concordia University
• Bugsick | Venya Aggarwal | Sheridan College
• February 3rd, 2023 | Kseniia Inchakova | Concordia University
• Hogar | Olly Norambuena | Concordia University
• lullaby for a deathdream | Charlie Galea McClure | Concordia University
• Monarchomania | Ariel Rutherford | Concordia University
• Monkey Bar | Mya Van Dyk | OCAD University
• Music in the Pocket | Veronika Kostyuk | Sheridan College
• Nos fleurs en perles | Maxime Kornachuk | Université de Saint-Boniface
• Rudy Boyles’ Spore-nographic Journey | Mitchell Green | NSCAD University
• Stalin’s Toast | Alexandra Ouchev | Concordia University
• Stride & Shine! | Xinyi Tian | OCAD University
• The Clown Film | Silvan Ghahri | Emily Carr University of Art + Design
• Une nuit debout (Awaken Night) | Julie-Ann Déry | Concordia University
• Uproar | Camille Vandelac | Concordia University
• When the Moon Sings | Jesu Medina | Concordia University

Animated Features

• ChaO | Yasuhiro Aoki | Japan
• Decorado | Alberto Vazquez | Spain
• L’Olívia i el terratrèmol invisible (Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake) | Irene Iborra | Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland
• La gran historia de la filosofía occidental (The Great History of Western Philosophy) | Aria Covamonas | Mexico
• La mort n’existe pas (Death Does Not Exist) | Félix Dufour-Laperrière | Canada
• Pohádky po babičce (Tales from the Magic Garden) | David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar & Jean-Claude Rozec | Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, France

Animated Series

• Beantown ‘Trial by Fire’ | Mike Manor | United States
• Big Big Baby ‘Episode #1 – Hey Buddy’ | Travis Pelto, Shawn Golden & Joe Hingelberg | United States
• Chips ‘Chip Joins a Cult’ | Maddie Brewer | United States
• Common Side Effects ‘Pilot’ | Camille Bozec | United States
• Eggland | Cole Kush & Christopher Rutledge | United States
• One Minute Movies ‘The Wolf Ma’am’ | Nicolas Mahler & Stefan Holaus | Switzerland, Austria
• Tenderland | Juho Maurinen | Finland

Young Audiences 7+

• Complexo Floral Artesanal (The Handmade Flowery Complex) | Class 5ºB Elementary School 2 and 3 Palmeira, Braga | Portugal
• Family Dinner | Huayi Yu | United States
• Get a Grip | Abbey Collings | Canada
• Kinder Conversations (Big Stories, Small Scribbles) | Diana Reichenbach | United States
• Le tunnel de la nuit (The Night Tunnel) | Annechien Strouven | Belgium, France, Netherlands
• Les bottes de la nuit (The Night Boots) | Pierre-Luc Granjon | France
• Omedodeedu (Edu’s Fear) | Bruno Mazzilli & Tiago Judas | Brazil
• Rajskie Ptaki (Birds of Paradise) | Tomek Ducki | Poland, France
• Robot Leo | Piret Sigus & Silja Saarepuu | Estonia
• We’re Kinda Different | Ben Meinhardt | Canada

Teen Audiences 13+

• Autokar | Sylwia Szkiłądź | Belgium, France
• Balconada | Iva Tokmakchieva | Bulgaria, France
• Dječak i Demon (The Boy and the Demon) | Paula Petković | Croatia
• L’étrange humeur adolescente (Strange Teen Spirit) | Frank Ternier | France
• OLIVE PLACE, Luxury Inn | Jarrod Prince | Australia
• Play Fight! | Katrina Larner | United States
• Supar Pilut | Keith Pakiz | United States
• Superspice | Adriana Lopez Escalante | United States