Brighton International Animation Festival

Set on the sunny coast of Brighton, England it is a 3 day annual not-for-profit festival every April run by animators for everyone. The vision of the festival is that it embraces international partnerships and encompasses a global perspective, in addition to providing an accessible place for people to learn about the medium. 

In addition to film screenings of both specially curated and in competition programmes, the festival offers hands on animation workshops and talks from industry speakers. This allows both animators and non-animators alike to come and learn about the medium in both an artistic and commercial context.

All of the films are subtitled for deaf/hard of hearing inclusivity and there is a BSL interpreter at all events, plus one carers ticket is available for any visitors with access needs.

The 2026 edition will be April 24 - 6th primarily based at Brighton Dome with a couple of sister events at separate venues.

Previous editions have included the 70th anniversary screening of classic feature animation Animal Farm in 2024 with a presentation on The Story of Halas and Batchelor the studio behind the film from Vivian Halas of the studios estate.

The 2023 edition showcased one of Joanna Quinn first UK retrospectives in recent years, and the 2022 edition saw guest festival StopTrik International Film Festival the Slovenian/Polish specialist stop motion festival present a specially curated programme and BIAF programme Queer Contemporaries was presented at Anibar Animation Festival in Kosovo. 

​The festival is BAFTA qualifying meaning selected filmmakers will be eligible to apply for a the BAFTA Short Animation Award. See BAFTA's website for full details

Follow @brightonanimation on Instagram to see previous editions and for future updates. 

For details on the monthly pop up screenings and life drawing class please refer to the pinned posts on the Instagram account  or alternatively sign up for the monthly e-newsletter with all listings on here