Manchester Animation Festival

This years festival takes place from Sun 10 – Thu 14 Nov in venue and our online offering will be available online from Fri 15 Nov – Sat 30 Nov.

Family Day takes place on Sun 10 Nov.
Animation Connections Conference takes place on Wed 13 Nov.
The Animation Nation Forum and the Marketplace take place on Thu 14 Nov.

Sunday is aimed at more of a general public audience who may only want to attend one event and miss out on tickets Mon-Thu due to passholders. 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 2024 will be in-venue from 10-14 Nov 2024. The festival’s core venue will be HOME, with other events taking place at Manchester Central Library, The Anthony Burgess Foundation, The Bridgewater Hall, and Maldron Hotel.

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

Submissions for MAF 2024 are now closed sorry! Submissions for MAF 2025 will open after this years edition, stay tuned in November for updates on opening dates.

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 15 Nov – Sat 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 we founded in 2015 our event has grown tremendously! As it has we have added additional events to focus on certain aspects of animation. Before you buy passes or tickets, here is a bit more information about what our event offers to know a bit more about the event and to help you make the right choice.

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 this event is accessible to all wanting to find out more as we showcase the global animation industry.

ACC – Animated Connections Conference: for animation professionals and educators wanting to bridge the gap between education and industry and exploring practical ways we can ensure a bright future for animation.

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.

Tickets and passes will go on sale following our programme launch on Tue 26 Sep. Friends of MAF will get a 48 hour pre-sale access on Wed 27 Sep, then tickets and passes will be on general sale from Fri 29 Sep at 12 noon.

Pass prices and types for MAF 2024 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 last year for the first time since 2016 and our aim is to continue to keep these as cost effective for our audiences as possible but also allowing us to operate as it always has done 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 those that need this information find it 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 boxofffice@manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk.

Please do so 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 15 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.