Tangles, Leah Nelson’s animated dramedy about a young woman dealing with her mother’s early onset dementia, has won top honors, the Grand Jury Prize for best film, at this year’s Animation Is Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Nelson’s 2D black-and-white feature, which premiered as a special screening in Cannes, is adapted from Sarah Leavitt’s autobiographical graphic novel and features an all-star voice cast led Abbi Jacobsen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Beanie Feldstein, and Seth Rogen. Tangles has been picked up by Independent Film Company for the U.S.. It will have an Oscar-qualifying release on Nov. 27 followed by a limited rollout on Jan. 15 and a nationwide bow Jan. 22.
“We loved the fluid 2D animation which uses a stark monochrome framing to bring to life the personal story of a family impacted by the mother’s battle with dementia,” the festival jury said. “We were especially impressed with how director Leah Nelson and her perfectly cast voice team were able to remain faithful to Sarah Leavitt’s graphic novel which tackles a serious, painful subject with great beauty, honesty, and a gentle touch and also offers a great flashback to 1990s-era San Francisco.”
The festival’s Fumi Kitahara Special Jury Prize went to Iron Boy, a French coming-of-age drama from director Louis Clichy, which premiered in Un Certain Regard in Cannes. (The award is named in memory of beloved publicist and Animation is Film champion Fumi, who died last year).
Iron Boy follows a young boy growing up in rural France who strains against the rigid restrictions of his home life, and the metal corset he is forced to wear 24/7 to correct his spinal conditions. Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film for North America and multiple international territories out of Cannes. It will do a qualifying bow for the film in December, followed by a North American theatrical bow Jan. 22.
“Iron Boy is pure beauty from the medium we all love,” said the festival jury, calling Clichy’s hand-drawn 2D feature “an easy stand-out thanks to its beautifully crafted water-color-like and Chinese ink-brush style visuals and how it told a story inspired by the director’s own memories of growing up in rural France. We also admired the way Clichy conveyed a world of emotions with his impressionistic visuals as well as his depiction of a young boy’s personal struggles with a physical handicap and the heartfelt portrayal of a strained father-and-son relationship which avoids sentimentality and the pitfalls of a traditional comic-of-age story.”
Iron Boy also won the features audience award, voted on by the festival public.
Highlights of the 9th Animation Is Film Festival, which ran Oct. 16-19 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood and the David Geffen Theater at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, included the first theatrical screening of Dana Terrace’s online sensation Knights of Guinevere, and a special screening of Travis Knight’s stop-motion epic Wildwood.
On Sunday, the festival also hosted the inaugural live edition of The Hollywood Reporter’s Animation Roundtable, which featured Bill Hader (The Cat in the Hat), Travis Knight (Wildwood), Louis Clichy (Iron Boy), Leah Nelson (Tangles), Joel Crawford (Forgotten Island), Phuong Mai Nguyen (In Waves) and Fawn Veerasunthorn (Hexed).
See the full list of the Animation Is Film winners below.
2026 Animation Is Film Festival Winners
Grand Jury Prize
Tangles, Leah Nelson
Fumi Kitahara Special Jury Prize
Iron Boy, Louis Clichy
Features Audience Award
Iron Boy, Louis Clichy
Shorts Jury Grand Prize
Paper Trail, Don Hertzfeldt
Shorts Special Jury Prize
Please, Anna Mantzaris