MOOIEV BLOG
In Waves will give TAFFF its first animated opening
Phuong Mai Nguyen’s graphic-novel adaptation is scheduled to open the Los Angeles festival on 3 November. The choice puts animation at the front of the programme.
In this article 4 sections
The opening slot changes hands
For its 30th edition, The American French Film Festival is putting an animated feature in its opening slot for the first time. In Waves, directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen and adapted from AJ Dungo’s graphic novel, is scheduled to open the festival on 3 November 2026.
The CNC announced the programme on 29 October. The festival is scheduled for 3–8 November at the Directors Guild of America Theater Complex in Los Angeles, with 60 works spanning films, series and shorts. In Waves is produced by Silex Films.
An opening film gives a festival its first impression. Putting animation there gives it a different position from a title someone might discover only after choosing a format-specific section. That is the programming choice that interests us here; it does not tell us how audiences will respond.
What a page leaves to the reader
The adaptation also offers a useful question for anyone moving a story between forms: who controls the pause? A reader can linger over a drawing or turn a page quickly. A film has to commit to a duration, then decide what the image, movement and sound do inside it.
Consider a fictional example, unrelated to the film: a drawn scene ends with an empty chair. On a page, the reader might glance at it and continue. On screen, holding that chair for two seconds or eight seconds creates two different invitations to look. Adding a sound from the next room changes the attention again. The same object can remain while the experience changes.
That comparison is our own illustration, not a description of a scene in In Waves. The announcement establishes the adaptation; it does not establish which formal choices Nguyen has made. Those are questions to bring to the film rather than answers to invent from its source material.
A beginning, not a verdict
The opening selection should also be kept separate from the awards. According to the CNC, 58 of the festival’s 60 works are competing for TAFFF awards, with audience voting across cinema, television and short-film categories. Winners are scheduled to be announced at the closing ceremony on 8 November.
For creators, the interesting development arrives before those results: an animated adaptation will set the tone for this edition’s first screening. When the film becomes available to you, the comparison worth making is between the time you spend with a page and the time the film asks you to spend with an image.
Source and editorial note
Mooiev editorial, prepared with AI assistance and reviewed before publication.
Source: CNC, checked on 30 October 2026; no CNC endorsement is implied. Programming facts are attributed above; the interpretation and fictional example are Mooiev’s. This is not a film review or a report of attendance. No third-party images or film frames are reproduced.