Women ... Animation ... Womanimation!
What is Womanimation!? As the name implies, it's a festival showcasing acclaimed animated film stories created by women from around the world.
From satire to drama, from the everyday to the surreal - in styles from traditional 2-d to stop-motion to computer animation - the festival showcases wide-ranging visual styles.
The inaugural festival was held in conjunction with the second international SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now), an event designed to highlight the contributions of women artists for Women’s History Month in March.
Since then, it has played around New England in late spring or early summer, and is one of the premiere showcases of women's animated shorts in North America.
Saturday, March 30th
Boston, Massachusetts
at Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Showtime: 3:00 pm
MassArt Encore Edition
Saturday, March 30th, a special MassArt Encore Edition of the festival takes place at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
DJ Madame B will be weaving soundscapes from women around the world before and after the special screening, and audience will vote for their favorite three films to determine the winner.
Co-sponsored by the MassArt Animation Department, this educational screening is free and open to the public.
Festival Films
The festival will screen twelve films from ten countries on three continents, with styles from stop-motion to 3D to traditional 2D and computer/2D hybrids.
Nine films are from the 2023 edition of the festival, along with three from the 2019 edition, whose rescreening was cancelled due to Covid.
With running times between 2 and 15 minutes, the films emphasize well-developed narratives as well as visual experimentation, with themes touching on history, family, romance, or self-discovery, along with regular detours into realms of fantasy.
Click here for a list of the films.
Womanimation! 2024
We will be accepting submissions for the 2024 festival beginning in April 2024.
Please do not submit films in advance of that time. Submission guidelines are below. As always, there is no fee to submit your film.
Submission Guidelines
Festival films must be animated, directed by a woman, and narrative in structure (no music videos, trailers, non-narrative experimental pieces, and so forth.)
For 2024, we prefer films completed in 2022, 2023 or 2024. Earlier films are ineligible.
There is no fee to submit a film for consideration.
Note that as we don't charge submission fees, we are also unable to pay screening fees for any film.
Technical Guidelines
Resolution/Dimensions: 1080p, 2K, or 4K.
Codec: H.264/AVC or H.265/HEVC preferred. ProRes acceptable (file will be converted before screening)
Frame rate: 24 or 25 fps
Bit Rate: Between 5 Mbps and 20 Mbps, depending on resulting file size, preferably less than 100MB/minute
Subtitles: Embedded preferred but can accept .srt files or similar
As of January 2023, we are not accepting DCP submissions.
Other Recommendations
None of the following criteria disqualify a film but may count against films in consideration for acceptance:
- Films shorter than 2:00 or longer than 20:00
- Films from 2022
- Films available publicly online
- Films that have played extensively in the US (especially northeastern US)
- Subtitle problems (too small, poor contrast, excessive grammar/spelling errors)
Sending Film Files
To submit a file, you can send the film file to our WeTransfer page directly.
Otherwise, use a service such WeTransfer, DropBox, or Google Drive. Share with email address mergingartsfilmMergingArts@MergingArtsgmailMergingArts.MergingArtscom.
Filmmakers accepted into the festival are strongly encouraged to provide a photo of the filmmaker, along with film stills and any other promotional material.