Manchester Animation Festival will stop accepting films made with generative AI from 2027

Nov 14, 2026
The UK's only Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying animation festival announced the policy alongside its 2026 winners.

The Manchester Animation Festival, the UK's only Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying animation festival, will no longer accept films created using generative AI for submission from 2027 onwards, Animation Magazine reports. The festival said the policy reflects its commitment to celebrating human creativity and safeguarding the artistic skills at the heart of animation.

"As we open our call for entries for MAF 2027 we wanted to stand by the creatives that make animation the incredible, human artform that it is," festival director Steve Henderson said.

The festival announced the policy together with the winners of its 2026 film competition, Industry Excellence Awards and MAFter Dark programme. Top prizes went to the films In Waves, When the Sea Was Calm and A Little Death. The awards covered British film, feature film, short film, student film, commissioned film, immersive work, children's shorts and the audience award, alongside the Young Animator of the Year Awards for animators aged 11 to 22.

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