SIGGRAPH 2025 Animation Theater Serves Up a Triple Shot of Storytelling

Image Credit: photo by Andreas Psaltis © 2024 ACM SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH’s Computer Animation Festival is an Academy Award® Qualifying Festival, awarded to the “Best in Show” short film. Its screening of the Electronic Theater and Animation Theater are widely recognized as celebrating storytelling in computer animation, VFX, advertising, cinematics, real-time graphics, and scientific visualization. Back by popular demand is the Animation Theater, which offers an opportunity to get your daily dose of up-and-coming animation excellence in short-film making.

The Animation Theater is open to Full Conference and Experience level participants and will be taking place on the following days: 

• Monday, 11 August, 11 am–12 pm PDT 
• Tuesday, 12 August, 12:30–1:30 pm PDT
• Thursday, 14 August, 12:30–1:30 pm PDT

So what is in store for the Animation Theater? Let’s dive into the content! 

Animation Theater: Light Roast Shorts

Image Credit: “Amen”  © 2025 Orphée COUTIER, Bettina DEMARTY, Kimie MAINGONNAT, Laurène PEREGO, Louise POULAIN, Avril ZUNDEL

The Animation Theater Light Roast Shorts will kick off the week on Monday, 11 August. This block of animated shorts is smooth for a mellow morning looking on the bright side. Check out the lineup:

• Snow Bear
• Amen
• Simon Small
• Areia
• Bacterial Molecular Landscape: Visualizing Earth’s Simplest Life Form
• Wormwood
• The Pillars of Creation and the Interplay of Stars and Dust 
• The Red Heel 
• Courage

Animation Theater: Medium Roast Shorts

Image Credit: © 2025 Hornet and Warner Records. All rights reserved.

• Candice
• Secret Level: Crossfit – Good Conflict 
• Visual Bird Sounds 
• Dawn
• Trust 
• A Sparrow’s Song 
• Dare to be Fabulous 
• Balloonerism

Image Credit: “Visual Bird Sounds” © 2025 Andy Thomas

Animation Theater: Dark Roast Shorts

Image Credit: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH

The Animation Theater Dark Roast Shorts are intense, robust, and not for the faint of heart. These shorts are brewed especially for those with a dark sensibility. Grab your coffee and make your way to the Dark Roast Shorts on Tuesday, 12 August from 12:30-1:30 PDT for these thrilling shorts: 

• Farewell
• Sleeping with the Fishes
• Verdun
• THE DEEP ABOVE – First Hunt
• Transferable 
• Like Friend, Like Deer
• Detlev

Image Credit: © 2024 Agora VFX Inc. All rights reserved

But wait! There’s more!

Meet the bright minds behind the great pieces of work shown at the Computer Animation Festival with the Animation Theater In Conversation sessions. These sessions present an opportunity to meet the team behind the following works and a behind-the-scenes look into how their animation excellence came to be. An extra dose of caffeine for your time in Vancouver!

Image Credit: “In Your Dreams” © 2025 Alex Woo, Nicola Lavender, Sacha Kapijimpanga

Animation Theater In Conversation: In Your Dreams offers a sneak peek of the upcoming Netflix feature animation release! “In Your Dreams” Director Alex Woo, Kuklu Studios; Sony Pictures Imageworks Visual Effects Supervisor Nicola Lavender; and Head of Character Animation Sacha Kapijimpanga will talk through their work, how it came to be, and what you can look forward to about the film, followed by a Q&A and poster signing. 

Image credit: “Inkwo for When the Starving Return” © 2025 Amanda Strong, Eloi Champagne

Animation Theater In Conversation: Inkwo for When the Starving Return offers a screening and in-person conversation where Director Amanda Strong, Spotted Fawn Productions; and Eloi Champagne, head of technical direction and production technologies, NFB, share how CG was used in stop motion to create this meaningful work where Dove, a gender-shifting warrior, uses their Indigenous medicine (Inkwo) to protect their community from an unburied swarm of terrifying creatures.

Whether you are checking out the Electronic Theater, the Animation Theater, or the Special Film Event (ICYMI: SIGGRAPH 2025 is hosting the 30th Anniversary “Toy Story” Screening), the Computer Animation Festival is a cornerstone program that can’t be missed. Secure your spot at SIGGRAPH 2025, and play a role in co-creating our future!