For 20 years, the New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF) has curated artistically innovative live action, animation, and documentary film programs for young people, building a devoted audience that returns year after year to expand their horizons and explore new genres and worlds.

As a leader in presenting the art of international animation, the Festival is thrilled to be offering a special cash award for the best stop-motion animation film featured in competition in the 2018 program. NYICFF stands in the unique position of sharing the magic and possibilities of stop-motion as a distinctive art form, from its origins as a uniquely hand-crafted medium to one which now also integrates with the latest digital technologies. The winner of the stop-motion award will receive recognition and a cash prize of $2,500 thanks to special corporate support. Additionally, winners of the Festival’s 2018 Grand Prize Short Award and the Jury Awards for Animated Short and Live Action Short will receive one free year of VimeoPRO, courtesy of Vimeo. Jury Award winners for Animated Short and Live Action Short also qualify for Academy-Award eligibility.

Submissions are currently open through November, and a special reduced rate is available to stop-motion entries. The Festival will be held February 23 through March 18, 2018 at venues throughout New York City. In addition to stop-motion film entries, the Festival open call also seeks submissions for innovative, compelling, and visually and thematically original short and feature animation, live action, and documentary films for audiences ages 3-18

Now in its 21st year, the NY International Children’s Film Festival was originally founded to support the creation of a more dynamic film culture for children and teens. As such, the Festival often presents films that were not originally created with young audiences in mind, but resonate among children and families nonetheless. It is this bold and thought-provoking approach to programming that has made the Festival a distinctive cultural touchstone in New York City.

An Oscar® – qualifying Festival in the Best Live Action and Animated Short Film categories, the Festival’s prestigious jury includes filmmakers and producers Sofia Coppola, James Schamus, Gus Van Sant, Christine Vachon, and Taika Waititi; actors/producers/directors Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, and Uma Thurman, and distinguished animator and animation history scholar John Canemaker, among others. NYICFF’s selects films that result in Oscar®-nominations as well as premiere or showcase the year’s acclaimed nominee films, including most recently in 2017, nominated films from the Best Feature Animation (My Life As A Zucchini), Best Short Animation (Blind Vaysha), and Best Short Live Action categories (Sing).

Deadlines to submit U.S. and international films through Withoutabox for the 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival are as follows:

November 20, 2017: LATE DEADLINE (EXTENDED) for short film entries-$75 fee ($40 student fee); 20% discount for stop motion entries with the promo code “StoMoNYICFF”

December 1, 2017: LATE DEADLINE for feature film entries-$125 fee ($80 student fee)

Complete eligibility information, submission fees and official rules and regulations for 2018 can be found at www.nyicff.org/submit.

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