The society also announces special honorees to be recognized at VES Honors Celebration coming November 7.
12 short films, including 3 animations, from 3,127 entries, are awarded at 52nd ceremony, held in New York City; all winning films now eligible for 98th Oscars.
TAG 839 shares the ratification of a first-ever union contract for the studio’s production workers and the unionization of remote workers across the U.S. who contribute to LA-based projects.
In what’s being called an ‘historic week of organizing’ at The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839, workers at Netflix Animation Studios, on ‘Ted’ at NBCUniversal, and at SpindleHorse have formally moved to join the union.
‘We’re Kinda Different,’ ‘What We Leave Behind,’ ‘Gauze,’ and ’18 Months’ also notch wins; Willie Ito receives the Lifetime Achievement Award; awards ceremony set for September 21 - screenings begin September 18, while conference runs September 20-21.
Entries will be accepted through October 31, 2025 for projects released between January 1 and December 31, 2025; the awards gala is set for February 26, 2026.
Festival screenings begin September 18 with Kid Koala’s ‘Space Cadet;’ conference, which runs September 20-21, will open with a Brad Bird talk; presentations on the making of ‘KPop Demon Hunters,’ Pixar Animation’s ‘Elio,’ the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s ‘The Twits,’ and ‘In Your Dreams’ are scheduled.
4 shorts in competition by Alex Boya, Matea Radic, Abbey Collings and the duo of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski lead the expansive slate that includes a special screening of Donald McWilliams’ ‘A Return to Memory;’ festival runs September 24–28.
All 3 shows take home 2 awards in the animation and VFX categories; ‘The Penguin’ wins for Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode at the awards ceremonies held over two days this weekend at the Peacock Theater in LA.
The September 7 event, featuring Netflix’s ‘Love on the Spectrum’ star Dani Bowman, will spotlight stand-up comedians alongside live musical and improv performances, plus a documentary short film premiere.
Film London’s commissioning program for early-career Black and African, Asian, indigenous, Latin American, or mixed-heritage backgrounds animators welcomes David Adeyemi, Jasmine Hewitt, Brandon Saunders, and Lysander Wong to its 2025-2026 program.
Exploring love, social stigma and permanent families, Klick Health and Zombie Studio’s powerful stop-motion short tells the true story of an infant – Kevin - found in a New York subway and the two men - Pete Mercurio and Danny Stewart - who unexpectedly became his fathers.
The latest edition features work by 6 emerging animation filmmakers: ‘Get a Grip’ by Abbey Collings; ‘I Want to Go Home’ by Mégan Dupont; ‘Intruder’ by Max Ma; ‘Panoptic’ by Katie Finn; ‘Springrise’ by Mitchell Keys; and ‘Super Mr. Woods’ by Aerin Wu.
Animator Aaron Augenblick led a nostalgic dive into Fleischer Studios and brothers Max and Dave’s history with a screening of restored ‘Koko the Clown’ cartoons and a lively discussion on New York’s gritty animation roots with Stephen DeStefano, Mark Newgarden, and J.J. Sedelmaier.
From ghost stories and family curses to intergalactic misfits and urban rabbits, WIA’s 2025 animation creators’ cohort features 5 bold new projects from women across the globe, each exploring identity, legacy, and self-discovery in imaginative, culturally rich worlds.
Artists on ‘Arcane,’ ‘Love, Death + Robots,’ and ‘Octopus!’ were among those awarded for work in background design, character animation, character design, color, motion design, production design, and storyboarding; winners will be formally announced on September 6 as part of the two-night Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony on September 6-7.
The Academy Foundation Board comprises 12 trustees who also serve as members of the Academy Board of Governors; casting director Kim Taylor-Coleman was elected Board president.
The high-performance workstation provider will also be demonstrating a ‘Virtual Rage Room’ immersive, interactive experience that leverages markerless mocap tech and a 10-foot LED volume.
Head of technical direction and production technologies Éloi Champagne will participate in a Real-Time Live! Session, and will sit down with filmmaker Amanda Strong to discuss ‘Inkwo for When the Starving Return;’ Jo Roy’s ‘Corpus and the Wandering’ will screen as part of the Electronic Theater.
The first-of-its-kind technology enables artists to leverage Captury real-time markerless motion-capture technology alongside markered props for powerful versatility; demonstrations from August 11-14.
The open source framework for color management and image interchange across the entire motion picture production life cycle has been developed and maintained by the Academy for more than a decade.
Set for August 12 at 5 pm PT, the intimate panel discussion will explore how Production VFX Supervisor Michael Ralla, ILM VFX Supervisor Nick Marshall, and Rising Sun Pictures VFX Supervisor Guido Wolter built a shared vision for the supernatural tale set in the 1930s Mississippi Delta.
Submissions run through November 9; next year’s ceremony is set for February 21, 2026 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
The free Zoom talk, the 8th salon for ASIFA-Hollywood’s AEF, featuring the Oscar-nominated director, Chapman University Professor Emeritus, and author of ‘Mr. In-Between: My Life in the Middle of the Animation Revolution,’ will be held August 10 at 11 am PST.
The seasoned producer will begin her first term leading AMPAS during her second term as a governor representing the Producers Branch; she previously served for three years as vice president and chair of the Awards Committee.
