Festival Description: NYICFF is about great films (and filmmakers) that inspire, surprise, delight, and challenge audiences of all ages and is a globally recognized, sought-after Oscar®-qualifying Festival.  Filmmakers can expect expert curation, personal attention, care, and respect for one’s artistry, along with a genuine desire to further, as NYICFF’s mission states, a more intelligent, and diverse, film culture for kids. Over the course of one-month next spring, the Festival will feature tastemaker screenings, filmmaker forums, receptions, and thought-provoking Q&A’s – in theatres across New York City and virtually into attendees' homes. Engaging and inspiring audiences of all ages, the film programs from NYICFF provide an opportunity to network with industry leaders; films are judged by a world-class jury and seen by an audience that appreciates innovative content. 2025 Festival jury included Lake Bell (actor, filmmaker & author, All About Brains: A Book About People), Guillermo Martinez (head of story at Sony Pictures Animation), Seth Meyers (comedian, Late Night with Seth Meyers), Matthew Modine (actor, Oppenheimer), Chris Nee (creator, Doc McStuffins), Bob Odenkirk (Emmy winning writer and actor, Better Call Saul), Erin Odenkirk (author, Zilot and Other Important Rhymes!) Ellen Su (Animation director and artistic recruiter), and Kay Wilson Stallings (Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Development and Production Officer for Sesame Workshop).

2027 New York International Children's Film Festival Call for Entries

Eligibility criteria:

To be eligible to screen in competition, production must be completed no later than January 1, 2025. NYICFF designates “short films” as works with a running time of less than 40 minutes in length. Works with running times of 40 minutes or longer are designated as “feature films.

Awards:

Jury Awards (Oscar-qualifying)
- Best Animated Short Film
- Best Live Action Short Film

Feature Film Awards
- Grand Prize Feature Award, Animation
- Grand Prize Feature Award, Live Action

Short Film Awards
- Audience Awards (ages 3+, 5+, 8+, 10+, 12+, and Grownups Award)
- Grand Prize Short Film Audience Award (voted on by audience members in all age groups)

NYICFF is an Academy®-qualifying festival. Recipients of the NYICFF jury prizes are eligible for consideration in the Live Action Short and Animated Short Film categories of the Annual Academy Awards®.

• Festival Regulations and FilmFreeway Entry Form
• Deadlines: 15 June 2026 (early) 15 October 2026 (regular), 15 November 2026 (late), 1 December 2026 (extended)

Past NYICFF Coverage

2013:  The 16th New York International Children’s Film Festival (1–24 March) presented around 100 films, with a particularly strong selection of European and international animation. The festival opened with Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner's 'Ernest & Celestine', while Jean-François Laguionie's 'The Painting' received its English-language world premiere. Other major animated features included Enzo d'Alò's 'Pinocchio', Michel Ocelot's 'Kirikou and the Men and the Women', Jean-Christophe Dessaint's 'The Day of the Crows', Laurent Boileau and Jung Henin's 'Approved for Adoption', Mamoru Hosoda's 'Wolf Children', Rémi Bezançon's 'Zarafa' and Gorō Miyazaki's 'From Up on Poppy Hill'. Six international short-film programmes covered audiences ranging from young children to teenagers. The jury included animation figures John Canemaker, Tomm Moore and Michel Ocelot, alongside Susan Sarandon, Gus Van Sant, Taika Waititi and other film and media professionals.

At the awards, 'Ernest & Celestine' won the Grand Prize Feature, while 'Wolf Children' was among the audience favourites, and Ainslie Henderson's 'I Am Tom Moody' received the Jury Award for Best Animated Short. 

2014: The 17th edition presented around 100 animated and live-action shorts and features over four weeks, with a particularly strong European animation presence: 'Aunt Hilda!', 'Ernest & Celestine', 'Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart' and 'Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants' were among the featured films, alongside Juan José Campanella's Spanish-Argentine 'Foosball'. The programme also included a LAIKA presentation on stop-motion production and an early look at 'The Boxtrolls'.  At the awards, 'Foosball' won the Grand Prize Feature, Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar's 'A Town Called Panic: The Christmas Log' received the Grand Prize Short, and Iria Lopez's Spanish film 'Jamón' won the Jury Award for Best Animated Short. 'The Dam Keeper' by Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo was among the audience-award recipients.

2016: European animation professionals were among the NYICFF winners. Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar's 'A Town Called Panic: Return to School' received the Grand Prize Short Film, while Marie-Christine Courtès's French film 'Under Your Fingers' won the Jury Award for Best Animated Short. The results reinforced NYICFF's importance not only as a children's festival but also as a significant international showcase for sophisticated independent and European animation aimed at younger and family audiences.