The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) returns to the spotlight in New York City's Animation First Festival (February 3 to 8, 2026) with internationally acclaimed shorts by new voices and Oscar-nominated visionaries from Montreal's vibrant animation community.
The festival will feature the NYC premieres of two works by new animators that made waves at this year's Cannes Film Festival: Hypersensitive, the first NFB film by self-taught filmmaker Martine Frossard, selected for the Official Competition, and Bread Will Walk, a surrealist satire by Alex Boya, which screened in the Directors' Fortnight.
Also making its debut in the Big Apple is The Girl Who Cried Pearls, the latest stop-motion marvel from veteran animation duo Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. Creators of the 2007 Oscar-nominated NFB short Madame Tutli-Putli, Lavis and Szczerbowski opened the prestigious Annecy International Animation Festival in France with their new work, which also earned the Best Canadian Short Film Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Now in its eighth year, the Animation First Festival is the biggest animation festival in the U.S and the only U.S. festival dedicated to French and francophone animation.
Quick facts
Hypersensitive by Martine Frossard (6 min 44 s)
Wednesday, February 4, 2026 | 6:45 PM | Florence Gould Theater
Produced by Marc Bertrand
