ANIMATION DAY in Esker Arts

Saturday 10 October 2026

A jam-packed day of events for animators, students, industry pros, and enthusiasts.

Schedule

10.00am - Meet and Greet

10.45am - Animation Competition Shorts

12.30pm - Workshops

Best Practices for your
Portfolio/Demo Reel
Thinking like a Storyboard Artist

2.30pm - Animation Residency Talk

3.45pm - Awards Ceremony

4.15pm - Masterclass: Drawing the Line in Ireland

ANIMATION COMPETITION SHORTS

Step into vibrant new worlds with this year’s Animation Shorts Programme.

Featuring extraordinary artists from across the globe, this lineup brings together bold imagination, stunning visual craft and powerful storytelling to show just how far animation can go.

Tickets for the Animation shorts here

WORKSHOPS

Thinking like a Storyboard Artist

Storyboard artist Seán Hogan will lead a storytelling workshop, focusing on hands-on exercises. The workshop will delve into topics such as camera angle language, how one can utilise the background to tell a story, and how to iterate and problem solve fast.

Level up your portfolio skills with a 30-minute workshop, facilitated by Grace McDonnell (My Brother the Minotaur, The Cuphead Show, Goldie and The Amazing World of Gumball), covering essential best practices for building an industry-standard animation portfolio and demo reel, followed by quick one-one-one feedback sessions to help you get your work noticed by recruiters.

Followed by in-person portfolio reviews. For reviews: please bring a PDF of your work or a functional URL.

Best Practices for your Portfolio/Demo Reel

ANIMATION RESIDENCY TALK: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Since 2018, the Animation Residency has given Irish animators six rent-free months in Birr to chase down passion projects - a track record that includes two IFTA wins for Best Animated Short, Jack O'Shea's “The Dream Report”, and Clíona Noonan's “Soft Tissue”.

ANIMATION SHORTS AWARDS

This year we will be awarding:

Best Irish Animated Short
Best International Animated Short
Audience Choice Animated Short

Expanding beyond our traditional single award allows us to honour global voices, celebrate homegrown talent and give the final vote to you, the audience.

SELECTED SHORTS:

placeholder | directed by Elisa Beli Borrelli

A PINT OF BITTER | directed by Conor Kehelly

Ballad of the Starlings | directed by Milena Fiodorow

ROHY | directed by Yosef Phelan

Thin places | directed by Samuel Keshishian

The Sky was Candy | directed by Anh Tú Nguyen

The Sycamore | directed by Jared D. Weiss

No Famine and No War | directed by Pat McCarthy

There's Something in the Milk | directed by Cliona Noonan

Bótharín | directed by Niall MacGiollaChomhgaill

To a Flame | directed by Ro Martin

On The Berry | directed by Niamh Asple, James Naughton

The Gentle Artist: Records of Experience | directed by Aoife Balfe Bean Uí Dhíomsaigh

Anam | directed by Ailbhe Fearon, Muireann Mulvihill

Meteoric | directed by Paul Ó Muiris

Unsouled | directed by Jack McHugh, Conor McNally

MASTERCLASS: DRAWING THE LINE IN IRELAND

The history of animation in Ireland is unique. In this masterclass, Steve Woods will explain how Ireland went from a very small ‘cottage’ industry to a ‘go- to’ country producing high-end world class animation.

The importance of state funding, education, plus the heavy involvement of three American animation studios which migrated in the mid-1980s to Dublin, all helped this success story.

Illustrated by artwork and clips from classic Irish animations, the talk will conclude however, that the real reason why Irish animators have created a wonderful animation industry is because they simply love animation.

Steve Woods is an Animator, director, lecturer in animation at IADT and author of ‘Drawing the Line: A Personal Look at the Story of Irish Animation’.