LAIKA’s Wildwood, directed by Travis Knight, is the Best Animated Feature of the 2026 Tampa Animation Festival.

Wildwood opened the festival on Thursday, November 5, introduced by LAIKA Head of Animation and University of Tampa alumnus Brad Schiff to a full house at the Charlene A. Gordon Theater. Demand ran so high that we added an encore screening on closing night, Sunday, November 8.

Congratulations to Travis Knight, Brad Schiff and everyone at LAIKA, and thank you for bringing Wildwood home to Tampa.

See all of the 2026 award winners →

More about Wildwood →

The Tampa Bay Times featured the 2026 Tampa Animation Festival on Saturday, November 7, in a story by Neha Seenarine and Christian Blauvelt.

The piece follows the festival from its opening night with LAIKA’s Wildwood to submissions from animation schools on six continents, and asks whether Tampa could become a world-class animation hub.

“There’s something really special about this festival… Tampa is such a fantastic city. It just seems like it’s ripe to grow.” Brad Schiff, LAIKA Head of Animation, in the Times

Read the full story at the Tampa Bay Times →

More coverage of the festival is on our Press page.

Opening night filled up fast, and so did the waitlist. So we’ve added an encore: LAIKA’s Wildwood returns to the big screen on the festival’s closing night.

Sunday, November 8, 6:00 pm: Wildwood (encore screening). Charlene A. Gordon Theater, Ferman Center for the Arts, University of Tampa. Doors open at 6:00 pm, after the awards ceremony, and the film begins at 6:15 pm.

The encore is a screening only. Brad Schiff introduces Wildwood on opening night, Thursday, November 5, and he’s with us all week: Brad Schiff in conversation with Gregg Perkins on Friday at 5:30 pm, ParaNorman Friday at 7:00 pm, and Kubo and the Two Strings Saturday at 7:00 pm.

How to get a seat

Like every festival screening, the encore is free with a seat reservation.

• On the Thursday waitlist? Check your email: you have first access to held seats until Sunday, November 1 at noon.
• Everyone else: public seats open Sunday, November 1 at 12:00 noon ET on Eventbrite. Up to two seats per reservation.

Reserve your free seats →

See the full festival schedule, and follow the festival on Instagram and Facebook for updates.

117 films from 33 countries, chosen from this year’s submissions and sorted into eleven programs. Student work next to studio work, two-minute gags next to twenty-minute epics, a Homegrown block of Florida shorts, and the “For the Birds” program, built from everything you sent us with feathers.

Pictured above: stills from Sapling, The Nest, 9 Million Colors, A Sparrow’s Song, CopyPaste and Winter in March.

And three nights with LAIKA’s Head of Animation and UTampa alum Brad Schiff: Wildwood on Thursday, ParaNorman on Friday, Kubo and the Two Strings on Saturday, all at 7:00 pm.

See the full lineup →

Screenings run November 5–8 at the Charlene A. Gordon Theater, Ferman Center for the Arts, University of Tampa. All free. The full schedule goes up later this week, and free seat reservations open Monday, October 26. The mailing list hears about both first.

To every filmmaker who submitted: thank you; we can’t do this without you. To the selected: congratulations, and we can’t wait to show your work on the big screen!

The Tampa Animation Festival team

Brad Schiff, LAIKA’s Head of Animation and a University of Tampa alumnus, will be back on campus for the 2026 Tampa Animation Festival. He’ll present three LAIKA films over three nights, all at 7:00 pm in the Charlene A. Gordon Theater, Ferman Center for the Arts.

• Thursday, November 5, 7:00 pm: Wildwood
• Friday, November 6, 7:00 pm: ParaNorman
• Saturday, November 7, 7:00 pm: Kubo and the Two Strings

Wildwood is a tale of love, loss, sacrifice, and secrets, and of the magic you can find on your doorstep, if you’re willing to look for it. We can’t wait for everyone to help welcome Brad back to Tampa.

Brad Schiff: Head of Animation

As someone who has always wanted to push the art of stop-motion forward, LAIKA’s Head of Animation Brad Schiff has made a career of doing just that.

Animation Supervisor for LAIKA’s Wildwood as well as the Oscar®-nominated Missing Link, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Boxtrolls, and ParaNorman, Brad oversees LAIKA’s world-class team of animators, who consistently push stop-motion performance beyond its perceived limits. In addition to all of LAIKA’s films, Brad’s feature credits include Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs, and Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. He earned an Oscar® nomination for Visual Effects and won a Visual Effects Society award for his work on Kubo and the Two Strings.

Get your free seats first

All three nights are free, like every festival screening, and seats are limited. Free seat reservations open with the full festival schedule later this month, and our mailing list hears about it first. Join the mailing list.

Follow the festival on Instagram and Facebook for the full lineup as it lands, and support the festival with 2026 merch featuring Gina Bernardini’s artwork.

Submissions for the 2026 Tampa Animation Festival are now open on FilmFreeway. We welcome animated shorts and features in every technique — 2D, 3D, stop-motion, hand-drawn, cut-out, cameraless, and hybrid work.

The submission window runs February 23 through September 21, 2026. Films selected for the official program screen during the festival, November 5–8, 2026, at the University of Tampa.

Submit your film at filmfreeway.com/TampaAnimationFestival.

The Tampa Animation Festival returns for its 2026 edition November 5–8, 2026, at the Charlene A. Gordon Theater in the Ferman Center for the Arts at the University of Tampa.

As always, all screenings are free and open to the public. Full program, schedule, and guest announcements will follow in the months ahead.

Thank you to the filmmakers, jurors, sponsors, and audiences who made the 2025 Tampa Animation Festival a success.

Browse this year’s award winners and acceptance videos on the Winners page, and explore the full 2025 lineup in the archive.