Animaze 2026 Unveils Three-Day Programme and Festival Jury, Led by Bill Plympton and Johnnie Semerad
Skwigly
Animaze — the Montreal International Animation Festival — returns to Cinéma du Musée from September 17 to 19, 2026 for its 13th edition, bringing together international animation, independent filmmakers, emerging technology, special guests, masterclasses and awards over three days in downtown Montreal. The 2026 theatrical programme presents 123 animated short films, from comedy, music and family animation to experimental, AI-assisted and after-dark selections.
Returning guests Bill Plympton and Johnnie Semerad headline the festival’s six-member jury and this year’s masterclass programming: Plympton presents a 90-minute masterclass Saturday on drawing, storytelling and building an independent career, and Semerad presents Friday’s 45-minute From Pencil to Pixels to AI, on animation’s changing relationship with technology.
Animaze 2026 also welcomes ttikr as the festival’s official creator marketplace partner, giving Animaze’s global animator community new year-round tools to share and monetize their work.
This year’s jury reflects exactly the range we want Animaze to represent: filmmakers who’ve spent their lives at the drawing table alongside technologists and editors shaping where animation is headed next. It’s an incredible group, and we’re thrilled to have each of them in Montreal this September.
Laurie Gordon, Festival Director, Animaze Festival
THREE DAYS OF ANIMATION
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
- 4 PM — Opening Networking Cocktail
- Beautifully Absurd — inventive, comic and unconventional animation
- Music in Motion — animation and music across styles and approaches
- What We Remember — memory, history, loss and personal experience
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
- Worlds in Transition: A.I. — a selection of AI-assisted animated shorts
- Johnnie Semerad: From Pencil to Pixels to AI — 45-minute presentation
- Human Connections screening programme
- Roots and Journeys — culture, identity, place and belonging
- Turning Points
- After Dark — Animaze’s darker, stranger, more provocative late-night programme
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
- Young Animaze: Big Adventures — family-oriented animated shorts
- Bill Plympton Masterclass — 90 minutes on drawing, storytelling and creative independence
- Strange Worlds & Future Tense — surreal, speculative, forward-looking animation
- Turning Points
- Animaze Awards Ceremony — closes the 2026 festival
MEET THE 2026 JURY
- Johnnie Semerad — Jury Member
- Bill Plympton — Jury Member & Masterclass Instructor
- Iona Pelovska — Jury Member
- Dr. Elisa Schaeffer — Jury Member, Dean of Technology, LaSalle College Montreal
- Katia Zenava — Jury Member
- Edward Crompton — Jury Member, Film & Animation Editor
Johnnie Semerad — Jury Member
Founder of QuietMan, the innovative studio behind the first Beatles music video and the first primetime Emmy awarded for a TV commercial. QuietMan’s work has earned Emmys and a Grammy across more than 150 Super Bowl commercials, with pieces in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. This year Semerad launched the YouTube channel Deep Space Degenerates, already drawing millions of views.
Bill Plympton — Jury Member & Masterclass Instructor
Two-time Academy Award-nominated animator known as the “King of Indie Animation,” Plympton has hand-drawn every frame of his 11 animated features and 60+ shorts, including The Tune, Cheatin’ and Slide. His work spans music videos for Kanye West and Weird Al Yankovic and eight Simpsons “couch gag” sequences. He headlines Animaze’s newly expanded Masterclass Program.
Iona Pelovska — Jury Member
Artist and filmmaker exploring perception, dream and technology’s entanglement with human experience. She holds a doctorate in Communication and Culture, and her films and installations have shown at festivals and art spaces internationally.
Dr. Elisa Schaeffer — Jury Member — Dean of Technology, LaSalle College Montreal
Dean of Technology at LaSalle College Montreal, with a doctorate from Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University) and prior faculty roles at UANL Monterrey and McGill’s School of Continuing Studies. Her work spans computational intelligence, graph theory and machine learning.
Katia Zenava — Jury Member
Game-production specialist and educator with nearly a decade in the industry. At Nvizzio Creations (formerly Funcom), she contributed to titles including RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch, Rokh and LEGO Minifigures, and now teaches game production at LaSalle College.
Edward Crompton — Jury Member — Film & Animation Editor
Montreal-based film and animation editor whose credits include animation editor on The Garfield Movie, plus work on Isle of Dogs, Ron’s Gone Wrong and Dead End: Paranormal Park. Currently 1st Assistant Editor on The Angry Birds Movie 3.
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Animaze 2026 brings together animation from Canada and around the world, representing independent, student, professional and emerging voices. All films selected for Animaze 2026 retain their Official Selection status and remain eligible for jury awards.
Tickets are available now at: eventbrite.ca/e/animaze-montreal-international-animation-film-festival-2026-tickets-1993144207980