Hollywood’s animated film festival is back with Miyazaki, Aardman and more

Is tonight’s opening-night selection of the sixth annual Animation Is Film Festival its biggest ever? Figuratively, perhaps: “The Boy and the Heron” is the rapturously received return of the most revered name in anime, Hayao Miyazaki. Literally, it’s definitely the biggest — the festival’s first foray into Imax.

“There have been many films worthy of it from our past,” says programmer Rodney Uhler of the big-screen format. “But I think this will just be incredible to see on that scale. The topics [“Heron”] deals with — the characters are so grand and epic that it’s fitting to see it in the largest way possible.”

Sadly, both the Imax and standard screenings of Miyazaki’s weird, transcendent latest are already sold out, but Los Angeles’ world-class animated film festival has plenty of other programs to offer. Housed in Hollywood’s TCL Chinese 6 Theatres and produced by GKids in collaboration with Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Variety, AIFF has been growing consistently since bouncing back from the pandemic shutdowns, according to festival director Matt Kaszanek. He estimates a trending increase in attendance of around 30% per year since the darkened-theater days of COVID.

There are 20 more presentations during the festival’s run through Sunday, some aimed at the whole family, others at discerning cinéastes. Among the bigger names: award-winning titles from Annecy’s annual June showcase (the French-Spanish “Robot Dreams,” the French-Italian “Chicken for Linda!”); a special early screening of DreamWorks’ ”Trolls Band Together”; the North American premiere of “The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story,” a short in the cinematic universe of Oscar contender “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”; and celebrations of Disney past and present, including a love-letter short “Once Upon a Studio” and a work-in-progress sneak peek at the upcoming “Wish.” There are also 30th anniversary screenings of “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” and Aardman’s Wallace and Gromit short “The Wrong Trousers,” the latter a free event.

Closing night will be the Los Angeles premiere of the Aardman and Netflix sequel “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” plus another free event, the “Animate! With Aardman Workshop.”

Miles Morales is back in “The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story,” a short having its North American premiere.

(Sony Pictures Animation)

“We’re trying to have a more robust program of short films,” Kaszanek says. AIFF has three shorts programs, one for award winners, one featuring student filmmakers and one curated by the group Women in Animation.

The festival has also been burnishing its credentials as an Oscar harbinger: Nine of the last 10 animated-feature nominees have played at AIFF.

Uhler says the festival’s mission statement remains the same as always, as expressed by its name, Animation Is Film.

“That fight to get animation recognized as a valid part of the cinematic landscape is worth having — choosing different ways we can prove the dynamic nature of animation,” he says. “It’s different styles, it’s where it comes from. Our festival is very focused on bringing films from around the globe to L.A. We have newer filmmakers playing alongside Aardman or Miyazaki. So there’s a lot of ways that you can prove that statement.”

Uhler offers the French-made “Mars Express” as an example. “If you’re someone who likes sci-fi, dystopian, intellectual thrillers, then it delivers on all those counts,” he says. “It just happens to be also beautifully animated.”

Making its U.S. premiere Friday after showing at Cannes and Annecy, “Mars Express” is a future noir both wildly imaginative and carefully thought out. Unlike some narratives that purport to examine issues of AI sentience but only wave at them, “Mars” spins somewhere near “Blade Runner’s” orbit. It has a decidedly adult bent but also thrilling action sequences, moving through a cynical world to an intriguing resolution.

“I loved ‘Mars Express,’ ” says Kaszanek. “There are several sequences in it which are absolutely unfilmable for live action. The action sequences are extraordinary.”

Other international selections include “The Summer,” a moody queer romantic drama from Korea, and Saturday’s dialogue-less “Robot Dreams” (Spain/France), which begins as a fun look at the friendship between a dog and his robot, then evolves through many stages into a bittersweet journey about moving on after loss.

Then, for something completely different, there’s Sunday’s presentation of “Chicken for Linda!” (“Linda veut du poulet!”), an artfully sketched comedy that begins with a bratty kid being awful to her widowed mother, then grows from there. By the end, it’s a full-on French farce — Uhler compares it to Billy Wilder — simultaneously absurd and heartwarming. (Stick around for the credits, with their arrestingly beautiful original song, “Un souvenir ou deux.”)

“This is precisely the type of film that you would recommend to cinephiles,” says Kaszanek. “It’s a perfect example [of why] we’re really trying to have people stop using the word ‘animated’ as a qualifier when they’re talking about the best films of the year. It’s just a delightful film from beginning to end.”