Films

Kona is a forest-dwelling cat who lives with her mom and grandma. When her mother disappears, Kona embarks on a quest to find her alongside Colin, an orphaned pup, and Bernard, a runaway circus bear.

Some things arrive in waves: sunlight, joy, but also grief and loss. Director Phuong Mai Nguyen’s animated adaptation of AJ Dungo’s 2019 graphic novel is an indelible story of love between two teenagers and their passion for each other and the sea.

A young boy navigates life from inside an iron corset in Wall-E and Up animator Louis Clichy’s tender, funny rite-of-passage story that honestly confronts the distress that every adolescent endures.

MVFF partners with CalArts, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, California College of the Arts, and CSU Long Beach for a stellar showcase of animated work directed by female and nonbinary filmmakers. This selection features films reflecting family, friendship, life, death, and cultural identity.

MVFF partners with CalArts, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA and CSU Long Beach for a second showcase of animated work directed by female and nonbinary filmmakers. Films include kid-friendly topics like animals, family, friendship, big dreams, and outer space. Appropriate for grades 1-5 (ages 6-10)

Leah Nelson’s beautifully animated film, based on Sarah Leavitt’s graphic memoir, stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Abbi Jacobson, and Bryan Cranston as a family struggling to support each other through a mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s.

A jazzy, sassy musical tale of Mouse Detective Quill on the trail of his longtime nemesis and secret crush, Cat Burglar Juliette.

Dinner conversation at the table of a most imaginative family who definitely do not subscribe to the old saying, “Never play with your food!”

Adorable little Goddamn is ready for love but where is that obscure object of desire

In this fun musical homage to the toons of the 1940s, a struggling artist can’t seem to get his self-portrait on canvas until his paints and brushes come to the rescue.

A snow monkey bathing in a natural hot spring has an out-of-body experience and requires some well-trained snowflakes to revive him with their magical powers.

The humorous story of a man working as a teddy bear mascot who gets transported to a land of plush animals where the humans live in cages and stuffies rule the world.

Sibling creatures snuggle and struggle to find their own place and space from—and with—each other.

Memories of one man’s literal and figurative trip to Chiapas accompanied by his brother and a bag of magic mushrooms soaked in honey.

When the Empress transports herself to a spa planet for some much-needed R&R, her assistant Quip takes charge for the day and has some ambitious plans.

The lovely journey of a coin rolling and bouncing from one edge of San Francisco to the other.

Watch out, LA—the badass mamalonacitas are coming to a mall near you and they’re taking no prisoners!

A little ballerina dreams big from the wings of a grand stage production of The Nutcracker.

A New Normal is a short film created using Augmented Reality, that subverts the limitations of digital intimacy to create a story about warmth, hope, and family.

A girlfight at poolside between two frenemies who both emerge triumphant.

Can’t a girl just get a pair of regular old glasses in the astral plane?

What happens when what you thought you wanted no longer fulfills. Should you take that giant leap into the unknown?

A moving tale of three generations of Chinese women whose dreams and struggles are linked by one pair of scissors.

A little girl accompanies her mom to the café where she works and discovers a seagull with undiscovered barista talents.

Snakes slide along the frame, doing their beautiful dance of life.

A poor little sticker is tired of being stuck to a notebook, so he hitches a ride for a wider view of the world.

A beautifully told first-person account of a youthful stowaway who finds solace and companionship with the ship’s cat.

A humorous punk-rock high school drama centering on an undying craving for an elusive incendiary snack.

A young man challenges himself to swim across a freezing river, only to discover the error of his ways when he gets to the opposite shore.

A trance-like dance of human and abstract forms. Undulating and shapeshifting to an irresistible rhythmic beat.

People imagine the animals we wish we could see in real life—all shapes, all colors!

Two teenaged slackers do tarot readings in graveyards for cash ‘til their tagalong, screen-addicted baby brother takes off on his own.

“My child, in this lifetime, you will know what it is to be loved.” A beautiful musical story of young love on the shores of a faraway land.

A child of divorce learns how to appreciate time with Mom and time with Dad in a family that is together but apart.

When the agents from the underworld come to her door, an elderly woman resists their call until certain conditions are met.

A culinary whiz in the kitchen, this cat is a most unexpected cake-maker.

Inspired by the life of Queen Hsin Phyu Ma Shin and the late 19th-century massacre at Mandalay Palace—a tale of intrigue among the royalty in Myanmar.