An animated short film from Northern Ireland will screen at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood as part of the HollyShorts Film Festival. Wildkind is nominated in a category that includes work by Spike Lee and Renée Zellweger.

The film is based on a book by Ciara Tinney, a mother of three from Co Fermanagh and a former assistant director on Game of Thrones. It was directed by John McDaid of Dog Ears Animation Studio in Derry.

Wildkind had its world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh on 13 July 2025 and has since toured festivals in Ireland and Europe. The film was also selected for the Seattle International Film Festival, which McDaid said is the largest in the United States and the third largest globally.

Tinney said the HollyShorts selection is significant because several categories at the festival carry Oscar-qualifying status. Winners are announced at a gala. The screening places her film alongside Zellweger's directorial debut.

The short is a personal project for Tinney. It began as a poem written for her three daughters and later became a book and then an animation. The film uses watercolour imagery and includes the voices of Tinney, her mother and her daughters, as well as birdsong recorded from her garden.

McDaid said the project is different from Dog Ears' usual commercial animation work. He described it as a gentle, understated piece of storytelling with no special effects, and said he was surprised by its success at high-profile festivals.

The film has been translated into French and Spanish, and an Irish language version is also available. Tinney said a French schools programme used it as a language learning tool, and a Mexican film festival has expressed interest.