Over two million animated frames are headed to Tampa this fall, including some from one of the country’s foremost creators of stop-motion films.
Founded at the University of Tampa (now known as UTampa), Tampa Animation Festival has brought talent from around the world to the school since 2018.
Festival director and UT professor Gregg Perkins told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that every continent, except Antarctica, will be represented at the 2026 edition happening in November.
The Film, Animation and New Media instructor said between 130-150 films are set to screen over four nights at the Charlene Gordon Theater inside the Ferman Center for the Arts.
Oscar-nominated University of Tampa alumnus Brad Schiff headlines and will show a trio of Laika Studios films over three nights.
Schiff is the head of animation at Laika, which brought “Coraline” and “Paranorman” to animation lovers. He’ll screen “Wildwood,” “Paranorman,” and “Kubo and the Two Strings,” and do Q&As.
“It’s going to be a master class of animation while watching the movies,” Perkins said.
“Wildwood,” Schiff’s stop-motion animation film, is set for release on Oct. 23 and was conceived while Obama was in office, but took more than 16 years to complete, Perkins added.
“It’s a festival made by artists for artists, and I think that the community is really rising to it,” Perkins said.
Besides opening night, the agenda includes a shorts competition featuring students from across the world, comedy, horror, and a family program.
Florida-made short films, panels and workshops are also scheduled for all for days.
It’s no secret that AI is used more and more in art spaces across all mediums, such as the AI-generated film “Dreams of Violets.”
One of the festival’s awards recognizes the best use of hybrid filmmaking techniques. It’s sort of an open-door award and does introduce discussions about AI in filmmaking.
He asks filmmakers how they use AI when they submit for the festival.
“I’m somebody from virtual production, and I think people are gonna have to rethink their relationship to purism in general because in the animation industry AI has been around for a long time, automating background characters and doing other things,” Perkins said.
The high level animators he’s talked with use it as an organizing tool, not for generative purposes.
“I think we’re an artist-forward festival that privileges the handmade, the artist-made,” Perkins said.
Reservations will soon be available on EventBrite.
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This article appears in Oct. 08 – 14, 2026.
