TRICKY WOMEN TRICKY REALITIES CELEBRATES ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY — and we're joining in online!

Founded at the beginning of a new millennium by Culture2Culture, an organization dedicated to organizing festivals in the tradition of women’s film festivals since 1992, “Tricky Women” started out as the world’s first animation film festival committed to presenting works by female and/or genderqueer artists. Shifting the focus to the world-making possibilities of animated works was as much the organizers’ aim as re-writing a film history that typically privileges the contributions of men.

Mittlerweile bekommt Animation mehr Anerkennung innerhalb der Filmindustrie und hat deren Ränder verlassen. Tricky Women Tricky Realities hat diesen Wandel mitgemacht und dabei ständig neue Möglichkeiten der Präsentation, des Teilens und der Rezeption von Bewegtbildkunst kreativ mitgedacht: Das Festival findet seit mehreren Jahren hybrid statt und hat neue Arten des virtuellen Storytelling erschlossen. Seit 25 Jahren ist das Festival – so wie die Animation selbst – permanent in Bewegung, sprengt Grenzen und erfindet sich immer wieder neu. In dieser Zeit wurden 3.450 Filme gezeigt, die kompromisslos die drängenden Themen ihrer Zeit ansprechen und zugleich mit neuen Ausdrucksformen eine gemeinschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit diesen ermöglichen sowie alternative Welten imaginieren und fordern.

This year’s edition wants to acknowledge the festival’s history from a standpoint of visionary engagement rather than through the lens of nostalgia! To carry this rich history into the future, Tricky Women Tricky Realities 2026 invites various generations of animators to Vienna to interact with what has been the festival’s focus since the beginning: joyfully delving into and fostering a diverse, exciting and innovative film canon, reflecting on the potential of animation to rearrange familiar structures of storytelling, and shaping moments that hold space for community building.

Celebrating the passage of time gives way to broader reflections: What were the visions 25 years ago and how to approach them from today’s angle? How would we perceive our present situation from 25 years ago? And, last but not least: How to imagine a world 25 years from now?

Thinking about the future at a time marked by intensifying feminist backlash, anti-queer and racist violence, and brutal state and border regimes, demands abundant creative strategies and energy. Yet democracy lives exactly through that: envisioning a shared future we strive to work towards! We celebrate and stand with everyone who shares these visions, who speaks out, and who tells stories worth creating a feminist platform for.

Waltraud Grausgruber, Lara Bellon, and Lisa Heuschober, February 2026

25 years of festival history in trailers

We are delighted to accompany the festival online for its anniversary and we are taking a look back at the festival's history with 20 festival trailers, which were specially designed for the festival between 2009 and 2026 by international animation artists! The trailers not only serve as an introduction, framing, and invitation to a festival—they are independent works of art, snapshots, and perspectives from women and/or genderqueer artists.

Gathered here, they make it clear above all that animation is just as diverse and dynamic as the festival itself!

In cooperation with TWTR, we are now showing an exclusive pre-screening. Until the festival starts on March 11 in Vienna, viewers worldwide can stream a carefully curated selection of films on KINO VOD Club . The program includescurrent Austrian animated films by women and/or genderqueer artists, as well as curated programs featuring animated films by Maria Lassnig and subversive (self-)portraits. The selection is complemented by texts, interviews, and additional material that offers further insights into the works and their context.