The Aichi Nagoya Animation Film Festival 2026 already has clear rules: films must arrive with all music, character, and image rights in order. A jury will evaluate the works and award a Grand Prize of 1,000,000 yen with a golden Shachi trophy, a Director's Prize of 500,000 yen with a silver trophy, and a People's Choice Prize of 200,000 yen with a red trophy.
Creators First: Technology at the service of pitching and global connection 🎬
ANIAFF is structured under the Creators First concept, offering screenings, conferences, workshops, and pitch meetings. The goal is to connect veterans with new talents in international animation. To participate, creators must submit works with clean rights chains, which involves managing licenses for soundtracks, character designs, and frames. The festival not only awards prizes but also aims to be a technical and commercial meeting point for the industry.
The Shachi trophy: Easier to win than to pay for a song's rights 😅
Let no one be fooled: the million yen of the golden Shachi sounds good, but first you have to prove you haven't snuck in a sample from an 80s anime without permission. The jury will review every frame, every musical note, and every character. If your short film has a cat that looks suspiciously like Hello Kitty, better change the design. The trophy is nice, but the rights bureaucracy is the real antagonist.