The 2026 edition of the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) announced that Mononoke the Movie: Chapter III – The Curse of the Serpent and We Are Aliens are among seven animated films selected to screen in competition for its expanded Feature Animation category.
Additionally, the stop-motion TV anime series Candy Caries will be screened as part of OIAF’s Animation Made for Young Audiences 7-12 category. The series was also previously screened at the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
🐍『劇場版モノノ怪 第三章 蛇神』🐍
オタワ国際アニメーション映画祭2026
公式コンペティション部門（長編）に
選出されました🎉@OIAF_Animation#OIAF2026 pic.twitter.com/fDuzjcMnN7
— 『劇場版モノノ怪』公式@『蛇神』大ヒット上映中 (@anime_mononoke) July 7, 2026
Mononoke the Movie: Chapter III – The Curse of the Serpent and We Are Aliens will represent Japan at the animation festival, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and will take place in Ottawa, Canada from September 23, 2026 to September 27, 2026. The Grand Prize winner for Feature Animation will be announced live at the OIAF Awards Ceremony on September 26, 2026 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
Mononoke the Movie: Chapter III was released in Japanese theaters on May 29, 2026. Its Japanese title is Gekijoban Mononoke Daisansho: Hebigami. It is part of a new anime film trilogy for the supernatural Mononoke series.
©ツインエンジン
The first entries, Mononoke The Movie: The Phantom in the Rain and Mononoke The Movie: Chapter II – The Ashes of Rage, were released in Japan in July 2024 and March 2025, respectively. Both are streaming on Netflix internationally. A new project was announced earlier this month.
Like the second film, Mononoke the Movie: Chapter III had Kenji Nakamura (director of the first film) as chief director and Yasumi Atarashi as scriptwriter. Tomoaki Koshida (RPG Real Estate) served as the new director, while Kitsuneko Nagata returned from the first two anime films as character designer. Studio Kafka and EOTA handled the animation production.
Mononoke began with the “Goblin Cat” episodes of the 2006 horror anime anthology Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales. The 2007 Mononoke TV anime series was a spinoff series from that show.
We Are Aliens (also known in Japanese as Wareware wa Uchujin) is scheduled to premiere in Japan on September 25, 2026. It is directed by Kohei Kadowaki, who is also credited as the anime film’s planner, scriptwriter, storyboard artist, and editor. The NOTHING NEW film label, which was founded in 2022, is credited with the planning, creative production, and business production. MIYU PRODUCTIONS is credited with cooperation.
©NOTHING NEW, MIYU PRODUCTIONS
The anime film had a successful crowdfunding campaign on Motion Gallery where it raised 9.6 million yen (US$59,237.14) out of its 8 million yen (US$49,365.19) goal. The crowdfunding page mentioned 2027 as a planned international release date.
Sources: OIAF Official Website, press release
