Animation NOW! returns from 9–11 August for the 2019 NZ International Film Festival. The best animated shorts from 4000 international entries have been curated into six distinct collections by NZIFF's animation programmer, Malcolm Turner.

These six collections are all categorised into various themes such as Handmade, where drawings, paintings and puppets come to life; Invert - Characters, where the audience journeys inside the mental state of characters; Invert Places, where you can explore worlds created by animators; plus Dark Hearts which exemplifies the dark side of life such as hallucinations, unspoken fears and crazy dreams. Themes such as death, revenge and even anorexia are explored in this collection. Rosto is dedicated to the late Dutch animator Rosto and the International Showcase speaks for itself.

There will no doubt be a feast of talent to be seen whichever collection you choose to view. The year's best animated shorts, all at one festival. Tickets for Animation NOW! will be on sale from 28 June, along with the full NZIFF program.