Native Cestrians and visitors to Chester with an interest in animated films can enjoy screenings at the Chester Animation Festival 2026. The single-day event is taking place at the city’s creative hotspot, Storyhouse, this spring as part of the Chester International Film Festival (CIFF) 2026.
The Animation Festival is coming back to Chester for a 12th edition, and will shine a spotlight on impressive short animations from filmmakers sourced from across the world.
As a result, the 2026 shortlist includes films from Iran, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Russia and Canada. The collection brings together a wide array of voices and perspectives across a diverse range of animation techniques, genres and styles. Animation fans attending the festivities can expect playful, powerful and thought-provoking tales that highlight the varied creative possibilities of the medium.
The afternoon-into-evening event will feature a number of special screenings that includes all the competition finalists’ films for this year, including “I Am A Rebel” by Martin Pickles and “Immigrant” by Iran Nilram Ranjbar, among others.
Additionally, audience members will get to vote for their favourite, and will see which title becomes the 2026 Chester Animation Festival winner. After the announcement, there will be a screening of the film that won the 2025 festival, which was “The Pearl (Let’s Make Peace)”.
The Chester Animation Festival 2026 will now be held on Saturday, March 14 at Storyhouse. The event is taking place from 2 pm, and the venue is based on Hunter Street in Chester.