Copyright © 2026 OyList. All Rights Reserved.
Share
Items7
1
The Secret of Kells (2009)
7.5/10on IMDb
Released
The film that set the studio's look, which Tomm Moore described as flat, with false perspective and lots of color, built from the knotwork and margins of the Book of Kells itself. Brendan, a boy in the abbey of Kells in early ninth-century Ireland, is caught between Abbot Cellach's wall against Viking raids and Brother Aidan, an illuminator who has fled Iona.
The forest fairy Aisling and the pre-Christian god Crom Cruach bring older Ireland into the frame, and the Crom Cruach sequence is a genuinely unsettling piece of abstract animation. At 79 minutes it is the quickest way into the studio, with Brendan Gleeson as Cellach and a score by Bruno Coulais with Kíla. Co-directed with Nora Twomey, it earned the studio its first Oscar nod.
More about The Secret of Kells2
Song of the Sea (2014)
8.0/10on IMDb
Released
The studio's most beautiful film and its saddest. Ben and his little sister Saoirse grow up in a lighthouse off Ireland's northwest coast, and Saoirse, who has never spoken, turns out to be a selkie like the mother who vanished.
Their escape home from Granny's house in Dublin on Halloween night passes through a whole folklore of the old Irish otherworld: Macha the owl witch, who drains away feelings and turns their owners to stone, the stone giant Mac Lir and the Great Seanachaí, whose endless beard holds every story. Lisa Hannigan voices the mother and sings over Bruno Coulais and Kíla's score, and the songs carry the film's grief without sentimentality. It won the European Film Award for animation and was Oscar-nominated.
More about Song of the Sea3
The Breadwinner (2017)
7.7/10on IMDb
Released
Nora Twomey's solo debut leaves Irish legend behind for Kabul in 2001, under Taliban rule, adapting Deborah Ellis's novel. Parvana disguises herself as a boy so she can earn money and buy food for her family, and the film never softens what that risk means.
Its hand-drawn world splits in two: the dusty, restrained city, and the folk tale Parvana tells about a boy facing the Elephant King, animated in vivid cut-out style. The way the two strands answer each other is the film's real achievement. This is the darkest entry here, so preview it before showing younger children; for teenagers and adults it may be the studio's most moving film. It won the Annie for best independent feature and was Oscar-nominated.
More about The Breadwinner4
Wolfwalkers (2020)
8.0/10on IMDb
Released
The folklore trilogy's finale is set in Kilkenny in 1650. English hunter Bill Goodfellowe is ordered by a Lord Protector modeled on Oliver Cromwell to clear the forest of wolves, and his daughter Robyn befriends Mebh, one of a tribe who become wolves at night, a story rooted in the legend of the werewolves of Ossory.
The craft is the point: the town is drawn in thick, angular lines taken from 17th-century woodcuts, the forest in loose, sketchy pencil with the drawing marks left in, and the wolf's-eye chases through the trees are thrilling. Directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, it runs 103 minutes and is the studio's most rousing film, with Sean Bean as Bill. It won five Annie Awards and was Oscar-nominated.
More about Wolfwalkers5
My Father's Dragon (2022)
6.5/10on IMDb
Released
Nora Twomey's adaptation of Ruth Stiles Gannett's 1948 children's novel is the studio's warmest adventure and its most American. Elmer and his mother lose their candy store and move to Nevergreen City, and a talking cat sends him to Wild Island, where a gorilla named Saiwa is using a young dragon, Boris, to keep the island from sinking.
Under the jungle chase it is a story about a child's worry over money and home, which gives it more weight than the premise suggests. Jacob Tremblay and Gaten Matarazzo voice the pair, with Ian McShane, Whoopi Goldberg and Golshifteh Farahani among a big cast, and the character animation keeps the studio's hand-drawn look. A good choice for elementary-school viewers, on Netflix.
More about My Father's Dragon6
Puffin Rock and the New Friends (2023)
6.7/10on IMDb
Released
The studio's only preschool feature, made with Derry's Dog Ears and directed by Jeremy Purcell, brings the Puffin Rock television series to the big screen at around 80 minutes. Chris O'Dowd narrates as Oona the puffin welcomes Isabelle, a tufted puffin who has lost her home in a storm, and the island's last little egg goes missing just as another storm approaches.
There is enough jeopardy to hold small children but nothing frightening, and the gentle island setting and calm narration make it an easy first trip to the movies. It was also released in Irish as Puffin Rock agus Cairde Nua. Choose it for under-fives; anyone older will get more from any other film here.
More about Puffin Rock and the New Friends7
Julián (2026)
7.7/10on IMDb
Released
Louise Bagnall's first feature, co-directed with Guillaume Lorin, expands Jessica Love's 2018 picture book Julián Is a Mermaid into a whole summer. Seven-year-old Julián stays in Brooklyn with his Dominican grandmother, discovers her Caribbean community and becomes captivated by a mermaid parade.
It swaps Celtic myth for a coming-of-age story about self-expression, and the 2D drawing has a deliberately rough, hand-made line, with uneven pencil pressure and loose color. It premiered at Annecy in June 2026 and played Toronto, with distributors lined up in Ireland, the UK, France and Canada but none yet in the US, so look out for local dates.
More about Julián
