Animario to screen 'Arco' and 'Amélie et la Métaphysique des tubes', both shortlisted for the 2026 Golden Globes for Best Animated Feature
- Arco, Ugo Bienvenue’s film shortlisted for the 2026 Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature, will close the festival, together with the international premiere of the short film Algo en la casa, winner of the 2024 Animario Production Award and directed by Carla Pereira.
- As guest country, Mexico leads a programme featuring key figures such as Juan Medina and Carlos Hagerman, and includes the Madrid premiere of the country’s first stop-motion feature film, Soy Frankelda, by the Ambriz brothers
- The ‘Animario en familia’ section will screen the animated adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s novel Amélie et la Métaphysique des tubes, by Liane-Cho Han and Mailys Vallade
- Curated by Carolina López, Animario strengthens its commitment to creative freedom and auteur animation
- The festival will award its Animation Production Prize, worth €18,000, and the International Short Film Award, worth €5,000
Cineteca Madrid, part of the Department of Culture, Tourism and Sport, hosts from 11 to 14 December the eighth edition of Animario, the Madrid International Festival of Contemporary Animation, directed and curated by Carolina López. Now an international benchmark, Animario champions animation as a medium of artistic expression and a space for contemporary experimentation and reflection, bringing together filmmakers, professionals, students and audiences around a programme that combines premieres, retrospectives, talks and workshops.
In a context of technological transformation, Animario upholds artistic authorship and creative freedom as essential values. The festival celebrates the technical and aesthetic diversity of contemporary animation: from stop motion to animated documentary, from digital collage to new hybrid narrative forms.
Organised by Cineteca Madrid, with the collaboration of AC/E PICE and Madrid Film Office, Animario also maintains its prize structure —a key hallmark that recognises the creative talent, artistic risk and dedication that this form of cinema demands. The Animation Production Prize, worth €18,000, and the Best Animated Short Film Prize, worth €5,000, help promote the work of national and international creators and support their visibility on circuits around the world.
Opening and closing: from folk art to futuristic fantasy
Animario 2025 will open with the Madrid premiere of Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol, the latest feature by French director Sylvain Chomet, author of Belleville Rendez-Vous and The Illusionist. The film pays tribute to playwright and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, a key figure in French culture whose humanist sensibility and defence of language and popular life inspired generations of storytellers.
The festival will close with Arco, by fellow French filmmaker Ugo Bienvenu, shortlisted for the 2026 Golden Globes for Best Animated Feature. The film tells the story of a rainbow child who accidentally travels between the future and the present, offering a dazzling visual reflection on identity, technology and the desire to belong. The closing gala will also feature the first big-screen showing of Algo en la casa, by Carla Pereira, winner of the 2024 Animario Animation Production Prize.
The festival also brings together, in four public screening sessions, 31 films from 18 countries competing in this year’s International Short Film Competition. The selection is especially diverse and outstanding, featuring works awarded at major international festivals and others that audiences will discover for the first time. The programme explores animation with humour, emotion and social engagement. Highlights include The Girl Who Cried Pearls (Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski, Canada, 2025), Sulaimani (Vinnie Ann Bose, France, 2025) and El cuerpo de Cristo (Bea Lema, Spain, 2025).
Mexico, guest country
Animario 2025 dedicates its international focus to Mexico, guest country of this edition under the motto 'México, ¡viva la vida!', inspired by Frida Kahlo’s famous phrase. In collaboration with the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE) and thanks to the Mexican Animation Archive, the festival presents a cycle of six programmes showcasing the vitality, ingenuity and poetic strength of Mexican animated cinema.
The festival poster for this edition incorporates elements from Mexican culture and uses techniques characteristic of Mexican animation, such as collage, stop motion, traditional autographic animation and cut-out animation. The visual identity was created by Antoni Sendra, known as “Podenco,” an independent Spanish director specialising in mixed-media animation who has refined his craft over the past ten years across a wide range of projects, from advertising and documentaries to music videos and title sequences. As part of Mexico’s guest-country programme, the festival will host the Madrid premiere of Soy Frankelda, the first Mexican stop-motion feature film, by the Ambriz brothers.
Animario PRO: the meeting forum for professionals
Cineteca Madrid and Madrid Film Office once again organise Animario PRO, which will once again become a meeting point for creators, producers and future professionals. Highlights of this edition include a conversation honouring producer Chelo Loureiro and a talk with Alberto Vázquez on the creative process behind his film Decorado.
In addition, Píxel Clúster (Madrid’s animation and digital creation cluster), MIA (Women in the Animation Industry) and RTVE join the programme with panels and round tables dedicated to the creation and dissemination of animated content in today’s audiovisual landscape.
Animario en familia: emotion and creativity
The ‘Animario en familia’ section presents films that combine emotion, imagination and universal values. Among them is the animated adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s novel Amélie et la Métaphysique des tubes, by Liane-Cho Han and Mailys Vallade, shortlisted for the 2026 Golden Globes for Best Animated Feature. The programme also includes Olivia y el terremoto invisible, by Irene Iborra, an international stop-motion co-production that tenderly addresses the right to housing.
The line-up is rounded out by Shorts to Let Your Imagination Soar, a selection of children’s short films from the open call, and the family workshop 1 Point, 1 Line, led by Daniel Tornero, which combines sound stamping with collective abstract animation.
Workshops and special sessions
Alongside a documentary animation workshop led by director and producer Carlos Hagerman, the festival hosts a special screening presented by Igor Prassel —film programmer at the Slovenian Cinematheque, founder of the Animateka International Animated Film Festival and jury member— offering a carte blanche dedicated to contemporary Slovenian animation. This gathering is held in collaboration with the Slovenian Animation Film Association and the Slovenian Cinematheque.
There will also be a special session dedicated to the Spanish animation scene, featuring short films by both emerging and established creators, including Choche Hurtado, Izibene Oñederra, Valle Comba, Ane Ines Landeta and Vicente Mallols, as well as a conversation with Irene Iborra, director of Olivia y el terremoto invisible, the first stop-motion feature film directed by a woman in Spain.
Awards and jury
Animario strengthens its support for independent creation through its two main awards: the Animario Award for Best International Short Film, worth €5,000, and the Animario Animation Production Award, worth €18,000 —the only one of its kind in Spain for its artistic focus and direct support for the creation of new works.
This year’s short-film jury consists of art director and film curator Igor Prassel (Slovenia), director-writer-animator Irene Iborra (Spain) and director-producer-animator Juan Medina (Mexico). The production award jury is made up of director-animator Carla Pereira, director-writer-animator Guillermo García Carsí and screenwriter-director-animation producer Nuria González Blanco.
For more information:
comunicacion@mataderomadrid.org
Tickets available at cinetecamadrid.com