Nobody programmed these two on the same night as a statement. It reads like one anyway.
## The festival SCAD AnimationFest runs Sept. 23-25 at SCADshow in Atlanta, its 10th edition, per the SCAD release carried by Georgia Entertainment. Individual tickets went on sale Friday, Sept. 18. Variety's "10 Animators to Watch" moves to the fest for the first time, hosted by chief awards editor Clayton Davis.
## Thursday, early: 25 years of The Proud Family Bruce W. Smith, who created it, and Ralph Farquhar, who executive-produced it, receive the Animation Trailblazer Award at a 25th-anniversary Proud Family celebration. Penny Proud premiered on Disney Channel in 2001 and is still one of the only animated series built around a Black family that got a second life (Louder and Prouder on Disney+). Smith is a Disney veteran whose credits run from Bebe's Kids to Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog. Farquhar wrote for Married... with Children and created Moesha. Two men who made Black animation and Black sitcom television a business, honored in the city where most of the Black creative class now lives.
## Thursday, late: Sekiro, hand-drawn The night closes with the North American premiere of Sekiro: No Defeat, "presented exclusively by Crunchyroll," directed by Kenichi Kutsuna at studio Qzil.la and adapted from FromSoftware's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The whole film is 2D hand-drawn, no CG shortcuts. It premiered at Annecy, opened in Japan Sept. 4, and per CBR this is its first U.S. screening. Crunchyroll's SVP of content Adam Zehner introduces it. Same night also has Adult Swim's GET JIRO (from the Anthony Bourdain graphic novel) and Batman: Knightfall, Part 1.

## Why we care Atlanta is the capital of Black anime fandom; Dream Con and the cosplay scene proved that years ago. A festival in that city handing its top honor to the Proud Family team, then premiering a Japanese studio's take on a beloved game to that same audience, is the culture-intersection the anime pillar exists to cover. The kids who grew up on Penny Proud and grew into Sekiro are the same people, and Thursday night they're in one room.
## The read If you're in Atlanta, this is the anime event of the fall that isn't a convention. If you're not, watch for Crunchyroll's Sekiro streaming date, which has not been announced, and for the Proud Family tribute clips, which will travel.
## Sources - Georgia Entertainment (SCAD release), Sept. 9, 2026, SCAD AnimationFest celebrates 10 years: https://www.georgiaentertainment.com/2026/09/scad-animationfest-celebrates-10-years-in-atlanta/ - SCAD, Sept. 2026, AnimationFest 2026 event page: https://www.scad.edu/event/2026-09-23-scad-animationfest-2026 - Variety, Sept. 2026, SCAD AnimationFest 2026 lineup: https://variety.com/2026/film/awards/scad-animationfest-2026-lineup-1236849942/ - CBR, Sept. 2026, Sekiro: No Defeat U.S. premiere: https://www.cbr.com/sekiro-no-defeat-anime-us-premiere/

