GIRAF International Festival of Independent Animation

GIRAF, short for Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival, is the independent animation festival of the Quickdraw Animation Society, a member-driven non-profit in Calgary incorporated in 1984. Each November it screens independent, underground and experimental animation from Canada and abroad, programmed for adult audiences: abstract and narrative, hand-drawn and computer-generated work by students and established artists alike. Commercial work falls outside its mandate, and every selected filmmaker receives a screening fee.

The programme is built from themed shorts packages, among them Northern New Wave, devoted to Canadian animation, the Indie Mixtape packs and a late-night selection of stranger films, alongside new features, an annual retrospective feature, and workshops and talks by a spotlight artist. Recent editions have commissioned the festival artwork and signal film from Calgary animators. A jury names the best Canadian and best international short, and audience ballots decide the audience awards. The 22nd edition runs in cinema at the Globe Cinema on 12–15 November 2026, followed by selected shorts packages streaming online across Canada.