ANIMARIO FESTIVAL 2025

ANIMARIO celebrates its eighth edition with the energy of a festival that keeps growing, exploring the most fertile territories of contemporary animation. Ahead of us are four days of screenings, talks, meetings and workshops open to animation lovers and anyone curious to enjoy boundless creativity. ANIMARIO continues to support future works with the 8th Animation Production Award, which will be announced on Sunday along with the world premiere of last year’s winning short film, Something in the House, directed by Carla Pereira.

The International Short Film Competition showcases an especially diverse and striking selection, with award winning works from major international festivals and others that audiences will discover for the first time. The lineup explores animation with humor, emotion and purpose. The Girl Who Cried Pearls, Sulaimani and El cuerpo de Cristo are some of the 31 titles presented, representing 18 different nationalities.

The feature film program brings together award winning titles and Madrid premieres. The festival opens with Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol, the recent and long awaited film by Sylvain Chomet, and will close with Arco, by Hugo Bienvenu, winner of the Cristal Award at the latest Annecy Festival. There will also be special screenings introduced by their directors: Alberto Vázquez with Decorado and Irene Iborra with Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake.

The main focus of this edition, Mexico: ¡viva la vida!, is dedicated to one of the countries with the most chingona animation in the world. Through three feature films, including the Madrid premiere of I Am Frankelda by the Ambriz brothers, and a wide selection of contemporary short films, the program traces a journey through the aesthetic and narrative richness of a vibrant and deeply characterful animation scene. Visiting from Mexico are Juan Medina and Carlos Hagerman, key figures of Mexican cinema, who will share their experience in handcrafted animation and animated documentary filmmaking.

A single session is hardly enough to showcase the Panorama of Spanish Animation, given the strength of the latest work by established filmmakers and the momentum of a new generation coming in strong. And jumping from Spain to Slovenia, Igor Prassel, director of the Animateka Festival, will present highlights from a small country with enormous animated vitality.

ANIMARIO Pro, organized by Cineteca Madrid and Madrid Film Office, features a talk with the great producer Chelo Loureiro, along with other leading professionals, plus a pitch session of new projects presented by Píxel Cluster Madrid that offers a glimpse into the future of the medium. The workshops bring animation closer to audiences of all ages, from family creation sessions to an animated documentary workshop for young people and adults.

ANIMARIO remains a meeting point for those who imagine and believe in the creative capacity of human beings, a space to celebrate animation as a living and plural language.

Welcome to ANIMARIO 2025.

Carolina López
ANIMARIO 2025 Curator