The goal of the International Animation Day Festival is to give an in-depth and entertaining introduction to contemporary international animation. Screenings of short, animated films from around the world, analyses, and Q&As with a panel of well-known animation experts, and a tribute to an international animation artist working in the U.S. animation industry are all part of the festival program.
2025 will mark the tenth anniversary of Cinema Without Borders’ International Animation Day Festival.
The first edition of International Animation Day Festival was dedicated to Polish animation and was held on Thursday, May 7th, 2015 at East Los Angeles at East Los Angeles College . After the screening of seven short animated films from Poland, a panel of experts did an analyses of those films and answered the audience’s questions. Panel members were: Cinzia Angelini, a Dreamwork animator, Greg Jonkajtys, Polish/American animator and filmmaker, Mike Libonati a professor of animation and visual effect artist, and Terry Thoren a transmedia entrepreneur.
In the last section of the program Tribute to Greg Jonkajtys—The Polish/American Animator was honored with a brief screening of his work, and an award presentation.
Second Edition of International Animation Day, dedicated to the National Film Board of Canada Animation was held on Saturday, May 21st, 2016 at East Los Angeles College. After a reception, six short animated films from NFB of Canada including Neighbors from Norman McLaren were screened. Members of the 2016 Panel of experts were: Cinzia Angelini, Sarah Baisley ex-editor in chief of AWN & Animation Magazine, Lee Crowe, Mike Libonati, Tom McLean, Editor in Chief Animation Magazine, Maral Mohammadian Producer at the English Animation Studio (NFB), and Bill Recinos is an art director, producer, animator, creative director, and art instructor.
After the panel discussion, in the SpotLight section, Cinzia Angelini went through the process of The Making of Mila, Creating a Quality Animated Film via the World Wide Web.
Philip Roman attended in the last section of the program, Tribute to a Legend, in order to receive a life achievement award. Phil Roman is the founder of animation studios Film Roman and Phil Roman Entertainment. Roman is of Mexican American descent.
Third Edition of International Animation Day, Southeast European Animation Day was held on Saturday, March 25th, 2017 at East Los Angeles College. After a reception, eleven short animated films from Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain , Turkey, and Yugoslavia were screened. Members of the 2016 Panel of experts were: Cinzia Angelini, Sarah Baisley ex-editor in chief of AWN & Animation Magazine, Mike Libonati, Tom McLean Editor in Chief Animation Magazine, and Vladimir Todorov, Bulgarian/American concept artist, illustrator and animator.
In Tribute to a Legend: Life achievement Award, Noureedin Zarrinkelk the award winning Iranian American animator and filmmaker , received CWB’s life achievement award. 
4th Edition of International Animation Day, Latin American Animation, March 24th, 2018
The event started with Screening of Short Animated Films from Latin American countries: Mexico: Muros no fronteras and Poliangular – Brazil: Plantae, Sinias Do Sim and Camino Gigante – Chile: The Bear Story (Academy Awards Winner),and Gift followed by the panel discussions. Panel members were: Sarah Baisley, Enzo Baldi, Chilean American Art Director, Mike Libonati, Tom MacLean, Tom Sito, an animator, historian and professor at USC, Ennio Torresan, Berazilian American Animation Director, and Jean Thoren the owner and publisher of the Los Angeles-based Animation Magazine.
Leo Matsuda the Brazilian origin, animation director and story artist, presented his short-animated film, The Inner Workings inn then SpotLight Section.
Tribute to a pioneer of animation was dedicated to the memory of the legendary Bill Melendez, Mexican-born American animator
The event started with Screening of five Oscar winning Short Animated Films: ANIMAL BEHAVIOR, Canda – Directors: ALISON SNOWDEN and DAVID FINE, BAO – USA -Winner of 2019 Oscar – Director: DOMEE SHI, LATE AFTERNOON (Ireland) Director: LOUISE BAGNALL, ONE SMALL STEP (USA/China) Directors: ANDREW CHESWORTH and BOBBY PONTILLAS, and WEEKENDS (USA) Director: TREVOR JIMENEZ.
Screening was followed by the panel discussions. Panel members were: Sarah Baisley, Christopher R. Harz, Larry Leker, Mike Libonati and Tom McLean.
In Spotlight section of the program four films from Tomáš Baťa University students in Zlín, Czech Republic were screened and then Mr. Lukáš Gregor Head of Animation Department at Tomáš Baťa University went over the process of making them.
Tribute to a pioneer of animation was dedicated to Ferenc Rofusz, an internationally recognized artist who has been distinguished with numerous international awards for his accomplishments in the field of animation. He is also the recipient of the 1981 Oscar for writing, directing and producing the animated short film, “The Fly.”
East Los Angeles College, National Film Institute Hungary – Film Archive, Hungary’s KEDD Animation Studio, and Cinema and Without Borders Foundation presented the Hungarian Animation Day, the seventh edition of the annual East Los Angeles College International Animation Day Festival featuring short animated films from Hungary. International Animation Day that was cancelled in 2020 due to spread of COVID -19, was held online in 2021 due to the same reason.
Nine short animated films from Hungary were available for the public to watch for the duration of the festival: Scenes with Beans/Babfilm (directed by Ottó Foky, production year: 1975, length: 12 min) – Gobble-Gobble/Hamm (directed by István Bányai, production year: 1977, length: 6 min)
Wind/A szél (directed by Csaba Varga production year: 1985, length: 5 min) – Rondino (directed by Csaba Szórády, production year: 1977, length: 3 min) – Wizards/Garabonciák (directed by Dóra Keresztes, production year: 1985, length: 5 min) – Panik/Pánik (directed by Sándor Reisenbüchler, production year: 1975, length: 9min) – Nights in the Boulevard/Körúti Esték (directed by György Kovásznai, production year: 1972, length: 9 min) – Maestro: Oscar nominated short film by Geza M. Toth KEDD Animation Studio, 2005 – Mama: A short film by Geza M. Toth KEDD Animation Studio, 2009
Screening was followed by a recorded panel discussions. Panel members were: Gabor Csupo, Mike Libonati, and Tom Sito.
In Spotlight section of the program, a short documentary about KEDD Animation Studio in Hungary was screened and followed by two productions of the Oscar-nominee director Géza M. Tóth, the founder and leader of KEDD Animation Studio Ergo and Matches.
Tribute to a Legend was dedicated to Gyula Macskássy, (1912–1971), that his work made the world discover Hungarian animation.
7th Edition odf International Animation Day,Iranian Animation at ELAC – March 26th, 2022
East Los Angeles College, Cinema and Without Borders Foundation and Iran’s Aduren Studio presented the Iranian Animation DayDay, the seventh edition of International Animation Day Festival featuring short animated films from Iran.
Nine Iranian short animated films were screened after a short reception: Hajar’S Wedding by Mahin Javaherian 8 Min 2008, The Tree by Sare Shafipour 5 Min 2014, When I was a Child by Maryam Kashkoolinia 8 Min 2014, The Switchman by Mehdi Khoramian 10 Min 2016, The Fox by: Sadegh Javadi 10 Min 2017, Am I a Wolf? by Amir Houshang Moein 8 Min 2019, Malakout by Farnoush Abedi 11 Min 2019, Gone by Samaneh Asadi 2 Min 2019, The White Whale by Amir Mehran 10 Min 2020
In Spotlight section of the program, Bahram Azimi, Iranian animator, director talked about making of his short animated film The Sixth String
Tribute to a Legend was dedicated to Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Legendary Iranian painter and animator
8th Edition of International Animation Day, Czech Animation @ ELAC on April 15th, 2023
East Los Angeles College, Cinema Without Borders Foundation and Consulate General of Czech Republic Los Angeles presented the Eight Edition of ELAC International Animation Day dedicated to the Czech Animation.
Five czech short animated films were screened at the opening of the event: The Springman and SS (Pérák a SS) (1946) 13 mi, Dir. Jiří Brdečka and , Jiří Trnka,Antidarwin (1969) 7 min dir. Břetislav Pojar, The Status Report on Civilization (Zpráva o stavu civilizace) (1981) 8 min, dir. Josef Hekrdla, Vladimír Jiránek, The Vanished World of Gloves (Zaniklý svět rukavic) (1982) 17 min, dir. Jiří Bárta, and Daughter (Dcera) (2019) 15 min – Directed by: Daria Kashcheeva.
A panel of experts discussed the scteened films and answered the audiences questions. Panel members were:Sarah Baisley, Rosa Farre, Mike Libonati, and Ramin Zahed.
In Spotlight section of the program, Ms. Michaela Pavlátová, went through theocess of making of ŘEČI, ŘEČI, ŘEČI, / WORDS, WORDS, WORDS
in Tribute to a Legend section of the program, two animation artists received a Life Achievement Award, Jorge R. Gutierrez, the Emmy and Annie Award-winning artist, is a Mexican animator, painter, voice actor, writer and director and Gene Deitch (1924-2020) that counts among the most accomplished illustrators, cartoonists and animation directors of all time.
9th Edition of International Animation Day, French Animation @ ELAC on May 18th, 2024
On Saturday May 18th 2024, East Los Angeles College, Cinema and Without Borders Foundation in cooperation with the Consulate General of France in Los Angeles, L’Agence du court métrage, Villa Albertine Los Angeles and Sony Classic Pictures celebrated the ninth edition of the annual International Animation Day Festival, dedicated to French Animation. This event was held at East Los Angeles College.
7 French short animated films were screened at the opening of the event: Empty Places Geoffroy de Crécy imagines, Mild Madness, Lasting Lunacy – Original title: Folie douce, folie dure, 2020, Director Marine Laclotte, Genius Loci is a 2020 French animated short film by Adrien Merigeau, Logorama is a 2009 French adult animated short film produced by the French graphic design and animation studio H5 as their first and only animated project. Release date: February 19, 2010 (USA) Directors: François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, Ludovic Houplain, The Monk and the Fish – (French: Le Moine et le poisson) is a 1994 animated short film made by Michaël Dudok de Wit, The Night of the Plastic Bags – Director Gabriel Harel, and Le petit dragon – Director Bruno Collet