The festival not only attracts attention as one of the few film festivals in the world where all screenings, lodgings, and stays are completed at the airport but also boasts the largest number of entries in the competition section in Japan. The festival also offers a multifaceted program including lectures by Japanese and foreign creators and exhibitions in public spaces. It has now grown into one of Japan’s top animation film festivals.

Chitose City, home to New Chitose Airport, will mark the 100th anniversary of the airport’s opening on October 22, 2026. The story goes back to when a railway station was first built in what was then Chitose Village. This new connection inspired Otaru Shimbun (now Hokkaido Shimbun) to organize a trip to the village. In return for the villagers’ help in preparing food and hospitality, the newspaper arranged for flyers to be scattered from an airplane they owned. Eager to catch a glimpse of this aircraft up close, the villagers came together and, in just two days, carved out a simple landing strip in the open fields. This moment is remembered as the origin of the airport.

What makes this story compelling is not only the collective effort behind it. It’s the sense of curiosity—the desire to encounter something unknown, something beyond the world they knew. When we look back at the people of a century ago through that lens, their impulse feels strikingly familiar, and deeply human.

The New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival began without prior experience in running a film festival. Since then, we have continued step by step, learning as we go. By continually rethinking existing frameworks and embracing the diverse perspectives in the works presented here, we have shaped this platform into what it is today.

At its core is a sense of excitement—the belief that there are still forms of animation in the world we have yet to encounter. Even in a time marked by division and conflict, we believe in a space where different voices and viewpoints can naturally meet and intersect.
This year, in the festival’s competition program, the “NEW CHITOSE Digital Signage Category”—renamed from the former “30 Seconds Category”. We hope to see selected works extend beyond the festival itself, creating new connections that move between the film festival and the art festival.
A festival that looks at the present and shapes what comes next begins again this year.
We look forward to welcoming you this early winter at the 13th edition of the festival.

ONO Tomoko