CREATEPhilippines x Animahenasyon: The Philippine Animation Festival

For 2025, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) has launched a series of events under its flagship brand, CREATEPhilippines, to champion and promote the Philippines’ creative industries. CREATEPhilippines is a trade promotion program that drives the institutionalization and growth of the country’s creative sectors, recognizing their significant contribution to GDP, employment generation, and export revenues. The program provides platforms for learning, networking, collaboration, and business development within the Philippines and beyond.

These initiatives align with Executive Order No. 75, which strengthened CITEM’s mandate to expand the export potential of priority sectors, including Creative Services, acknowledging their vital role in advancing economic growth and global competitiveness. Through CREATEPhilippines, CITEM continues to implement targeted programs for its key creative domains: Performing Arts & Music, Animation, Game Development, and Communication Design.

In July 2025, CREATEPhilippines served as the Official Event Partner of the Philippine GameDev Expo (PGDX), organized by the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP). The event attracted over 28,000 attendees, including buyers from the United States, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan. Business matching activities resulted in 128 actual meetings between local developers and potential partners, strengthening global linkages and creating tangible business opportunities for Filipino game studios.

Since its inception in 2007, Animahenasyon has been a premier platform showcasing the works of veteran and emerging Filipino animators through conferences, film screenings, competitions, and awards ceremonies. In 2025, the festival introduces a trade component, inviting international and local buyers, producers, and publishers to explore opportunities within the Philippine animation landscape. To support this initiative, CITEM will provide three days and two nights of hotel accommodation for select international buyers and key industry partners.

This year, CREATEPhilippines will co-organize Animahenasyon: The Philippine Animation Festival in partnership with the Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. (ACPI). The festival will take place on 25–26 November 2025, at Samsung Hall, SM Aura Premier, Taguig City, Metro Manila.

For interested participants, please feel free to contact the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Toronto at toronto@dti.gov.ph