Animation First Festival 2026
About
Animation First is the largest animation festival in the United States. In January 2026, the festival presented seven feature-length films (including three U.S. and three New York premieres), six short film programs, filmmaker talks, student competitions, and more over the span of six days.
In my role, I created the main festival trailer and all social media assets–organic and paid. The campaign contributed to a 15% increase in ticket sales year over year, exceeding the festival's revenue target by 10%.
Main Festival Trailer
I produced the festival trailer by sourcing footage and music, editing and syncing all elements, and animating custom text effects. The main trailer ran in our theatre before and during the festival, and was published externally.
Paid Video Ads
I edited the main trailer into different specs and lengths, depending on the platform. I also concepted and produced four distinct video ads, each targeting a different demographic: Students, Animation Fans, Francophiles, and Families. I worked with our Marketing Director to optimize the copy and refine the creatives.
Paid Ad Results:
Impressions: 530K
Reach: 230K
CTR: 2.9%
Page Views: 11k
Organic Social
Merci à
Anne Saboye, Art Director
Tiphaine Reed, Director of Audience Development
Chloé Dheu and Delphine Selles-Alvarez, Animation First Festival Curators
“Abby’s trailers for Animation First were energetic, on-brand, and most importantly, engaging. The response from guests was always resounding, whether viewed in large format in our 365-seat theater, or in the many shorter cuts running across paid and organic social. Her work led to a measurable lift in ticket sales for one of our most important festivals of the year.”
Suzanne Zudick
Former VP of Marketing & Communications,
L’Alliance New York
