About the Festival

Your Pacific Northwest hub for independent animation!

Sea Slug Animation Festival is a film festival in Seattle celebrating the ingenuity, creativity, and weirdness of independent animation for adults from around the world.

Sea Slug showcases all animation forms and mediums, with a special emphasis on film. Sea Slug strives to empower animators and animation fans local to British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and parts of NorCal to form personal and professional connections around animation, and to take pride in the talent right here in this neck of the woods.

The 2025 inaugural “Larval Edition” showcased 23 local and international short films, a new and a retrospective feature, an Artist Alley of local artists, and mixers for audiences and artists to connect.

Mission

Sea Slug is committed to building access, solidarity, sustainability, and community amongst animators and animation lovers around the Pacific Northwest.

We’re living out our mission through our Larval Edition by:

꩜ Access ꩜
  • Creating DCPs for any accepted filmmakers who require them
  • Teaching students about the festival process and how to platform their work
  • Mentoring early career programmers
  • Hosting artists to sell their work at the Artist Alley with no tabling fees
  • Lowering ticket costs for young people to attend the festival
  • Exhibiting films containing dialogue with open subtitles or captions as much as possible

꩜ Solidarity ꩜
  • Sharing opportunities for exhibition, employment, and art education in BC, WA, and OR
  • Championing human-made animation only
  • Promoting worker solidarity including unionization, living wages, and pro-artist legislation

꩜ Sustainability ꩜
  • Paying screening fees to all artists whose films play in the festival program
  • Eliminating submission fees as a form of festival income
  • Minimizing paper printing and utilizing local print shops
  • Developing a consistent platform for watching animated films theatrically

꩜ Community ꩜
  • Connecting with local arts organizations to promote each other’s programming
  • Meeting with local artists and filmmakers to address their needs through our festival
  • Fostering relationships between artists and audiences via festival events


Team

~the Larvae~

Co-FoundersHannah Baek & Rhys Iliakis

Advisory Board Stefan Gruber, Lucas Marchi, Isabella Von Ghoul

Festival Programming Committee Hannah Baek, Rhys Iliakis, Em Halladay Ptacek Choi, Marcus Gorman, Lucas Marchi, Emme Morgan-Mueller, Peju Ogunyemi, Shannen Ortale

Design Rhys Iliakis

Website Helen Paulini

Editorial Hannah Baek, Emily Sawan

Outreach Quentin Lebeau

Festival Trailer Lucas Marchi, Alex Barsky, Jasper Daly, Stefan Gruber, Handa, Keaton Hanna, Serena Lee, Emil Lundmark, Sharon Niemczyk, Caira Wolff, Enzo Wyatt

Festival Poster Alex Barsky, Zack Lydon

Festival Community Partners
48 Hour Film Project
ANEMONE
The Beacon Cinema
Common Area Maintenance
Far Star Media
Grand Illusion Cinema
Outsider Comics
Reclaim Clay Collective
Seattle Asian American Film Festival
Seattle Experimental Animation Team
Seattle Film Institute
Seattle Film Society
Scarecrow Video
Short Run Comix Festival
Third Place Books
Three Dollar Bill Cinema
Unstreamable

FAQs

꩜ Is this festival for kids? ꩜
Sea Slug Animation Festival’s programming is curated with adults in mind. The films may contain non-graphic sexuality, violence, and nudity. They may also include abstract, experimental, and non-narrative styles that may be less engaging for very young viewers. That being said, you know the young people in your life best! If you think they would enjoy the program, we welcome anyone ages 2–12 who is accompanied by both a ticket and an adult.
꩜ How do I get to the festival? ꩜
All films will play at SIFF Cinema Uptown. The Artist Alley will be hosted at SIFF Film Center, a few blocks away on the Seattle Center campus. Check out those venues’ pages for information on how to get there, where to park, and information about venue accessibility.
꩜ Will there be open captions? ꩜
With the exception of Boys Go to Jupiter, all films containing dialogue will be shown with open English language subtitles or captions, including English language films. Boys Go to Jupiter is available to view with closed captioning. All films without dialogue will not have open captions or closed captions available.

꩜ Do I need a ticket for the Artist Alley? ꩜Only film programs require a ticket or pass. All other events are free and open to the public.