Ottawa International Animation Festival
2023
The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) is one of the world’s leading animation events providing screenings, workshops, and entertainment since 1976. OIAF is an annual five-day event bringing art and industry together in a vibrant hub, attracting artists, producers, students, and animation fans from around the world.
From September 20 – 24, the OIAF transforms the ByTowne Cinema, Arts Court, Club SAW, Strathcona Park, the National Arts Centre, Château Laurier, and the Ottawa Art Gallery into the epicentre of animation. Sample a few events like the variety of films in short competitions, hands-on animation workshops at All Ages @ OIAF, Animation Exposé for behind-the-scenes insights, and parties aplenty or indulge in them all at OIAF 2023!
Interested in the business of animation? Find out about our TAC conference here
Available accommodation here
Find out about our 2023 poster by filmmaker Matthew Rankin.
See who’s on this year’s jury here.
👀 See for yourself…
Official Competition
See some of the most creative international and Canadian animated short works from the past year in the five Official Competition screenings which are presented throughout the Festival. With many of the filmmakers in attendance, you’ll get to rub shoulders with some of the most talented artists out there. Watch other great short films in the Canadian and International Panorama screenings as well as the Canadian Student Competition. The Animated Feature Competition is also a highlight with 5 – 6 new films in the spotlight.
On Saturday night, attend the Awards Ceremony to see which films take home an iconic Tick Tock Tom-designed award.
Special Screenings
OIAF 2023 will feature a retrospective of legendary Japanese director Masaaki Yuasa including his landmark features along with screenings of rarer short works and television episodes.
Other programs include looks at Canadian indie animator Justin Tomchuk and Chinese animator Xi Chen and a celebration of the NFB Hothouse program.
Animation Exposé
Saturday, September 23 at the National Arts Centre
Meet the wizards behind the curtain at the Animation Exposé Talk Series, showcasing artists from this season’s hottest projects, including never-before-seen surprises, sneak peeks, and tips on jumpstarting your career in animation!
Are you looking for the right animation program or your next career opportunity? Pack up your portfolio and come meet with representatives from animation schools, studios, and more at the Animation Exposé Career Fair
Parties
OIAF @ Pique
The OIAF’s famous Saturday night party joins forces with Ottawa’s best art party, Pique. Pique is a forward-thinking, artist-driven music and arts event featuring innovative and experimental performance and installation works focused on new ideas, collaboration, and site-specific intervention. Atomic Cartoon’s favourite Drink and Draw will be back!
The Animators’ Picnic presented in partnership with Warner Bros. Animation and the Cartoon Network
You can’t miss the OIAF signature social event, the world-famous Animators’ Picnic. Passholders can jump on a double-decker bus to get from our downtown venues to Strathcona Park, one of Ottawa’s most scenic green spaces along the Rideau River! Enjoy a picnic lunch and show off your artistic talents in our pumpkin carving contest.
You also won’t want to miss the Nelvana’s Opening Night Party, Bento Box’s Salon des Refusés, and Jam-Filled Entertainment’s Sweet Antics Party.
Get the full run-down here.
OIAF 2023 Poster
Statement from the Artist
“One time, I spent a year in Ottawa making propaganda films for the Canadian Government. All the work I did there was banned and tossed out like a used condom but, in the process, I developed a very earnest love for the graphic identities of government institutions, some of which are truly dazzling works of art. Inspired by the minimalist pamphlets designed for Parks Canada by Gottschalk & Ash throughout the 1970s, my poster for OIAF is playing with that very Canadian tension between bureaucratic micro-management and experimental art.”
– Matthew Rankin
Matthew Rankin
2023 Poster Artist
Matthew Rankin grew up in Winnipeg and studied history at McGill and Université Laval. He is the director of some 40 short films and one feature which have been variously presented at Sundance, Annecy, the Berlinale, Cannes Critics Week and on the Criterion Channel. His animated projects include Cattle Call (co-directed with Mike Maryniuk, 2008) Mynarski Death Plummet (winner of the 2015 OIAF Best Canadian Animation Prize) and Tesla: World Light (Canadian Screen Award for Best Animated Film, 2018). He is hard at work on his second feature in Montréal.
2023 Jury Members
Jessica Borutski
Feature Competition Jury
Jessica Borutski started her animation career at Spumco working on The New Ren and Stimpy. From there she ventured to the East Coast and worked with Collideascope and Copernicus on various projects. Her own short film entitled I Like Pandas won the the “Frederator Flash Film of the Year Award.” She was soon approached by WB to to re-design the Looney Tunes, and from there went on to direct the Merrie Melodies part of the show. She also re-imagined Bugs and the gang again for the Wabbit series, which evolved into The New Looney Tunes Show. Jessica went on to work on many of the WB legacy properties. One DC Nation Short, Wisdom, that she produced, was nominated for an Emmy. She also produced the series Bunnicula for Cartoon Network International. Today Nickelodeon is her new home and she is currently the Supervising Director on Loud House.
Parissa Mohit
Short Competition Jury
Parissa Mohit is an Iranian-Canadian filmmaker and animator. Creating animated films and installations, she uses a wide array of techniques, ranging from drawings and constructed sets to found objects and photography. Her driving inspiration is cities— their colourful texture gives her cause to reflect, react and simply be. Her latest film Une visite premiered at the Oberhausen film festival and was nominated for the Canadian Screen award in 2019. She is currently collaborating with the National Film Board of Canada on several animation films. Meanwhile, for her next film, she is exploring the translation of her hands-on techniques into real-time workflow with game engines.
Joel Frenzer
Feature Competition Jury
Joel Frenzer is a multimedia artist, animator, filmmaker, and performer. His 2021 web series, Nonnie, Raccoon, and Bear, chronicles a comedic collaboration with his mother in the face of her advancing Alzheimer’s disease. The Muse of Alzheimer’s: Turning “Tragedy” Into Art, his accompanying TEDxTufts talk, is a reflection on the profundity of love, life, and beauty in the face of his mother’s death. Joel is the founder of boredcardboard, an online community forum/production company whose mission is to boost mental health through crafting with garbage and to artistically upcycle corporate waste. Joel is a full-time Professor of the Practice at SMFA at Tufts University in Boston. He is currently finishing a new animated short film about the penis-rocket space race between Bezos, Branson, and Musk.
Alla Gadassik
Short Competition Jury
Alla Gadassik is an animation scholar and curator. She’s an associate professor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she founded the Animate Materials Workshop. Her recent article “Homeworkers”, published in the journal Feminist Media Histories (available on her website Gadassik.com) is a love letter to independent animation. Alla lives, works, and commits to anticolonial efforts on the unceded lands of the Coast Salish people (Vancouver, Canada).
Xi Chen
Short Competition Jury
Xi Chen is an independent animation filmmaker and comics writer. He started to draw comics at an early age, and his works were published serially in many Chinese magazines. He is currently a lecturer at Beijing Film Academy. His animation films (e.g The Fly in The Restaurant, The Swallow, The Loach) have been screened and awarded at many international animation festivals including the OIAF. He has been invited to France, Japan, and Canada for residency programs. An animation film retrospective of his work was previously held in Japan, France, and Russia. Co-directing independent animation films with Mr. Xu An (1977-2017) since 2007, Chen is one of the founders of Feinaki Beijing Animation Week.
Matthew Rankin
Feature Competition Jury
Matthew Rankin grew up in Winnipeg and studied history at McGill and Université Laval. He is the director of some 40 short films and one feature which have been variously presented at Sundance, Annecy, the Berlinale, Cannes Critics Week and on the Criterion Channel. His animated projects include Cattle Call (co-directed with Mike Maryniuk, 2008) Mynarski Death Plummet (winner of the 2015 OIAF Best Canadian Animation Prize) and Tesla: World Light (Canadian Screen Award for Best Animated Film, 2018). He is hard at work on his second feature in Montréal.