Tampa Animation Festival
← All films
Addicted To It

Addicted To It

Argentina, Ireland, United States / English · 6 min · 2026

Directed by Nigel Tierney, Federico Heller

Dace attempts the unthinkable: To go for a short walk without his phone. Unfortunately, his phone (“Phoney Bunny”) has other plans, coming to life and chasing him through the park. As he dodges his phone’s attempts to suck him back in, he encounters other screen-junkies and encourages them to do the same. Addicted to It is a fast and ridiculous metaphor for how we literally can’t do anything without our phones. Starring Mel Brooks, Dixie D'Amelio, Jeff Marx & Morgan Jay

About the Filmmaker

Nigel Tierney ↗

Nigel Tierney is an award-winning director and producer who grew up shoveling cow-s#!t on a farm in Ireland and somehow parlayed that experience into producing cow-s#!t in Hollywood. He directed and produced the award-winning EARTH song with Lil Dicky and Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as directing Bad Bunny’s immersive 360° visualizers, garnering over 2.5 billion views. He is currently developing an animated musical with Avenue Q composer Jeff Marx and serving as Consulting Director on an animated feature for Harpo, executive produced by Oprah Winfrey with a screenplay adapted by Pamela Ribon. Nigel directed his first animated feature, Goldbeak, released by Lionsgate, and has developed animated series with Willow Smith, J Balvin, Lil Dicky, and Justin Bieber. He previously held leadership roles at Verizon’s RYOT and DreamWorks Animation. Federico Heller is an award-winning director with a background in animation and VFX. In 2004, he co-founded Argentina’s 3dar, leading original content creation across games, animation, and television. He has directed commercials for Google and Sony, and series for Fox and Universal, and co-created the mixed-reality game Eggscape. In 2023, 3dar was named one of the world’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, ranking #2 in LATAM. Heller produced acclaimed VR experiences including Gloomy Eyes and Paper Birds. His debut short film Uncanny Valley went viral, earning international accolades and a feature adaptation option. With Nigel Tierney, he co-directed “Earth,” surpassing 400 million views and winning a Cannes Lions award.

Awards & Festivals

Animayo Gran Canaria May 7, 2026 European Premiere Best Music Spain New York Short Animation Film Festival New York September 12, 2026 Best Animation United States Animaze – Montreal International Animation Film Festival Montreal September 17, 2026 Canadian Premiere Best Music Canada

Addicted To It — still 1Addicted To It — still 2Addicted To It — still 3Addicted To It — still 4