Manchester Animation Festival

The 2025 festival takes place from Sun 9 – Thu 13 Nov in venue and our online offering will be available online from Fri 14 Nov – Sun 30 Nov.

Family Day takes place on Sun 9 Nov.
The Animation Nation Forum and the Marketplace take place on Wed 13 Nov.

Sunday is aimed at people and  families who may only want to attend one event, and are happy to miss out on tickets for the  Mon-Thu programme — passholders who are attending 1 or more full days at the festival will have priority  on tickets during this time. Passholder ticket allocations for Sun will be very limited, so we highly advise pass holders to arrange their trip around the Mon-Thu programming.

Manchester Animation Festival 2025 will be in-venue from 9-13 Nov 2024. The festival’s core venue will be HOME, with other events taking place at Manchester Central Library, The Anthony Burgess Foundation, Impossible, Gasworks, The Bridgewater Hall, and Maldron Hotel.

For information about the venues accessibility please see our access pages here.

Submissions for MAF 2025 are now closed. Please keep an eye on our social media accounts and email newsletter for information about film submissions for 2026.

Yes! Whilst we are returning to MAF in venue, we don’t want to leave behind the audiences that loved our online output the past three years.
This years online offering will be available online from Fri 14 Nov – Sun 30 Nov and will consist of a selection of shorts films playing at the festival, along with a selection of Q&A’s and Masterclasses; some of which are events recorded during the in-person festival and some of which are exclusive to online audiences!

Access to the online programme will be available for anyone with a Festival Pass, an Online Only Pass, and single tickets will be available too.
Whether you enjoy experiencing the best animation films on the big screen, or from the comfort of your own home, we hope to be able to provide a MAF that suits you!

Since MAF was founded in 2015, our festival has grown tremendously! As we’ve grown, we have added additional events to focus on different aspects of animation. Before you buy passes or tickets, here is a bit more information about what our festival offers, so you can find the kinds of events you want to attend. 

Festival: The events you’ve come to expect from us year after year, an international line up of short & feature films, masterclasses, panels, social events and more; for animated film fans and creators who want to explore the magic of animation.

ANF – Animation Nation Forum: for animation professionals looking to get to grips the inside scoop on the business of animation and make new connections. Dedicated to sharing all aspects of animation business, from non-broadcast to big budget features. If you’re a studio or if you work for a studio, if you’re senior or finding your feet, ANF is accessible to all wanting to find out more as we showcase the global animation industry.

MAF Market: free for all delegates to attend so come down and meet some of the great and the good from the world of animation. Meet industry leaders, receive portfolio reviews, check out new tech in the industry and meet recruiters in the animation industry.

YAY:  Young Animator of the Year UK is a competition that runs all year, finishing up with an awesome awards ceremony to celebrate our winners on Sun 13. The competition is open to 11-22 year olds across the UK, and promises to showcase new talent.

Animation Mixtape: The best in short films, in competition for a coveted BAFTA and Oscar-qualifying Manchester Animation Festival Award.

New Animated Voices: The best in short films produced in an academic environment, in competition for a coveted Manchester Animation Festival Award. These are the ones to watch.

Worlds of Animation: A selection of innovative and exciting short films from across the world. These films are highlighted for their creativity and ingenuity in both technique and storytelling.

Worlds of Animation:  New Voices: A selection of innovative and exciting short films produced in academic environments from across the world. These films are highlighted for their creativity and ingenuity in both technique and storytelling.

Tickets and passes will go on sale on Mon 22 Sep from 7.30pm.

Pass prices and types for MAF 2025 are as follows:

We always aim to make MAF as affordable and accessible as possible. However, due to the current cost of living crisis, many of our suppliers, venues and delivery partners have increased their fees significantly (some even double). We increased pass prices in 2023 for the first time since 2016. Our aim is to continue to keep passes as cost-effective for our audiences as possible, whilst also allowing us to continue operating without a negative financial and mental health impact to our staff.

The festival recognises the subjective nature of cinema and that people can have very different, and sometimes very challenging, responses to films. We do our very best to ensure that our audience have the information they need to make the right choices for them. We have trigger warnings on every programme which needs them. These are based on the Trigger Warning Guidance issued by The Whole Picture Toolkit as well as some more we have added.

To find the trigger warnings, simply go to the event in the schedule and read the copy.

We hope that you find this information useful!

We’d love to have you with us! If your company would like to take a table out at our marketplace, or even better support us a sponsor, simply email dan@manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk and he’ll provide you with a little more information!

If you’d like to find out about our group booking discounts and bespoke options, please email boxoffice@manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk.

Please contact us as soon as possible as group bookings will be much harder to facilitate once passes are launched and space is filling up. We advise you email us in September or earlier ideally. Leaving requests into October reduce the chances, as pass levels run low and some educational finance departments can’t work fast enough to clear invoices before the festival in November.

Check out our access information here.

https://stripe.com/gb/privacy

Most of the content will go live on Fri 14 Nov. Many of the events will be pre-recorded so you can view them at your leisure during the festival. Do check each individual page for their availability window.

Once you have ordered your ticket, you will see a “Watch Now” button. This button will become active when the content becomes available. Once you hit watch now, you have 48 hours to complete your viewing of the programme or event.

If you’ve ordered a program that includes a livestream, simply navigate to the Q&A and then click “Enter Livestream” at the designated time. There is a countdown clock on the livestream window to let you know when it will start.

All short film content screened at MAF is run through state-of-the-art DRM security with forensic watermarking.

DRM prevents users from downloading, copying, redistributing, or converting content to ensure streams only play back on trusted devices with a valid session.

All online talks/Q&As/masterclasses will be available to our international audiences.

All films are geolocked and can only be viewed in the UK & Northern Ireland, unless otherwise stated. The geolocked films are due to distribution rights in other territories and filmmakers wishes.

Please see the online help through eventive or launch their live chat.