Ciara Tinney's animated short film Wildkind is nominated at the HollyShorts Film Festival, where it will compete against works by Hollywood figures including Spike Lee and Renée Zellweger. The film, based on Tinney's book of the same name, will be screened at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
Oscar-Qualifying Status
Winners are announced at a gala, with several categories carrying Oscar-qualifying status. Tinney, a former assistant director on Game Of Thrones, is travelling to Los Angeles with her husband and family for the screening.
Tinney began writing the poem Wildkind after the birth of her first daughter Adabelle, 11, and started illustrating it when her daughters Fiadh Ros, eight, and Birdie Blue, six, were born. The film adaptation, directed by John McDaid, had its world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh on July 13, 2025.
Festival Recognition
Tinney said the film had been “on a little bit of a fun tour around Ireland and through Europe” on the festival circuit, but the upcoming recognition is “one of the big ones”. She described the HollyShorts nomination as an “Oscar gateway” and noted the competition includes Spike Lee and Renée Zellweger, whose directorial debut screens alongside Wildkind. “So it’s Renée Zellweger’s directorial debut alongside our director, who is John McDaid from Dog Ears Animation Studio in Derry, so we’re in great company, it’s a bit of a buzz,” she said.
Tinney attributes the film's success to it being a “universal bedtime story”. She said interest has come from a Mexican film festival, and the film has been translated into French and Spanish, used as part of a French schools programme for language learning, with an Irish language version working with Spanish subtitles.
Creative Vision and Reception
“I think it’s such a simple story, and the artistry, the look is really simple,” Tinney said. “It’s like a watercolour, and a black and white watercolour, very simple, fluid look, and I just think it’s that basic story that I think everybody’s craving.” She described the film as a “personal piece” featuring her own voice, her mother's, and her daughters', along with bird song recorded in her garden.
McDaid said Wildkind is “something totally new” for Dog Ears production, which normally does commercial animation for broadcast. “To create something small, just as a sort of a passion project, and then see it come to life across festivals, and to see the response that it’s had has been just a really joyful process,” he said. He noted the film has been selected for Seattle, described as the biggest festival in the USA and the third biggest in the world.
The film's success continues to surprise McDaid. “The fact that it has, and in so many high-profile festivals all across the world – I think it’s been selected for Seattle as well, which is the biggest in the USA and the third biggest in the world – for such a gentle little piece of storytelling is a gorgeous thing,” he said. “So we just continue to kind of be amazed by the life that it’s taken on.”
