3,700 films from 123 countries were submitted to this year's Cinanima Festival   (13-19 November 2023). A total of 130 animation films comprise this year's selection 98 animation shorts (33 countries) in the international competition.

International competition includes both films from seasoned animation filmmakers, like Martina Mestrovic and 'Her Dress for the Final', as well as up-and-coming voices, like the Swiss animation director Frederic Siegel with 'Sit Down, Don't Touch Anything'.

6 animation features to be presented during Cinanima Festival 2023, among them the new Alain Gagnol & Jean-Loup Felicioli feature (A Cat in Paris, Phantom Boy), 'Nina and the Hedgehog's Secret'; Films from Hungary ('Four Souls of Coyote'), Spain ('Robot Dreams') and Japan ('Gonta') grace the programme.

The António Gaio Award and the Young Portuguese Filmmaker Award (which is divided into films made by children under 18 years of age and first films made by youngsters aged between 18 and 30), will present 32 films as part of the National Competition.

João Rodrigues (Ana Morphose), Alessandro Novelli (De Imperio), Marta Monteiro (Cold Soup), Nuno Amorim (Look) are some of the names featured. 

The full lineup:

International Competition - Short Films

Trace • Asparuh Petrov – Bulgary
Island • Michael Faus – Israel
War is Over • Dave Mulles – USA
Rosemary A.D. (After Dad) • Ethan Barrett – USA
Depersonalization • Spartak Yordanov – Bulgary
The House to Keep Time • Joana Imaginário – Portugal
Madeleine • Raquel Sancinetti – Canada 
Teacups • Alec Green, Finbar Watson – Australia 
Pickles • Miri Dochikian – Israel 
Skinned • Joachim Hérissé – France
Our Uniform • Yegane Moghaddam – Iran 
I’m Fine Mum • Jose Manuel Palenzuel – Spain
Roped • Carmen Córdoba González – Spain
Cold Soup • Marta Monteiro – Portugal
Look • Nuno Amorim – Portugal
Maurice’s Bar • Tzor Edery – Mordekovich, Tom Prezman – France
Sit Down, Don’t Touch Anything • Frederic Siegel – Switzerland
Lost at Sea • Andrés Alejandro Bartos Amory, Lucija Stojevic – Spain
Our Pain • Shunsaku Hayashi – Japan 
Her Dress for the Final • Martina Mestrovic – Croatia
Winking Out • Juliette Mauduit – Belgium 
The Marrons Glacés • Delphine Hermans, Michel Vandam – Belgium
Telsche • Sophie Colfer, Ala Nunu – Poland 
Love Me True • Inés Sedan – France
La Vitualla • Santiago Pousada – Colombia 
Family Portrait • Lea Vidakovic – Croatia 
Me and Me • Chiu Ling Chen – Taiwan 
Feather • Sadegh Javadi – Iran
Cornucopia • Ani Antonova, Dimiter Ovtcharov – Australia 
Camino • Arevik D’Or – Belgium 
Two One Two • Shira Avni – Canada
Hands Down! • Fred Philibert – France 
Nurit • Shini Tal – Israel 
Green Grass • Élise Augarten – France 
Dog Days • George Hampshire – Netherlands
PINA • Jeremy Depuydt, Giuseppe Accardo – Belgium
Botanica Exotica • Sofia Laszlovszky – Hungary 
Pink Mountain • Thomas Kunstler – Greece
Deadline • Idan Gilboa – Israel
Green Feet On Concrete • Max Leighton – United Kingdom
Manimondo • Michele Tozzi – Italy 
Monk Seshin • Roytaro Miyajima – Japan 
An End to War Enough • Simone Massi – Italy 
The Aglonquin Bridge • Txesco Montalt – Canada
The Rubbings of Trajectories • Cheng Chung – Taiwan 
The Garden of Heart • Oliver Hegyi – Hungary 
Cricket • Natalia Ryss – Israel 
My Dear Son • Lilian Fu – Hong Kong 
The Boy and the Crow • Tudor Om – Romania 
Chasing Birds • Una Lorenzen – Canada 

Feature Films

Nina and The Hedgehog’s Secret • Alain Gagnol, Jean-Loup Felicioli – France 
A Greyhound of a Girl • Enzo d’Alô – Luxembourg
Kojot Négy Lelke • Áron Gauder – Hungary 
Kensuke’s Kingdom • Neil Boyle, Kirk Hendry – United Kingdom
Robot Dreams • Pablo Berger – Spain
Gonta: The Story of the Two-Named Dog in the Fukushima Disaster • Akio Nishizawa – Japan

Nina and the Hedgehog

Student Films

Friendly Fire • Tom Koryto Blumen – Israel 
A World in Chaos • David Crisp – Hungary 
To the Brink • Hugo Docking – United Kingdom
Tumult • Baptiste Ratajski – France
Pipes • Kilian Feusi, Jessica Meier, Sujanth Ravichandran – Switzerland
Dede is Dead • Philippe Kastner – Czechia
Bless You • Qingyang – China
Tree, Tree • Sichen Liu – United Kingdom
The Last Bar • Arne Hain – Germany
The Wolf of Custer • Tanya J Scott J Scott – United Kingdom
Go Fishboy • Denise CIRONE, Sebastian DORINGER, Andrey KOLESOV, Chiayu LIU, Zhen TIAN, Lan ZHOU – France
Synchrony • Julia Le Bras-Juarez, Emmie Marriere, Marianne Fourmanoit, Laura Techer, Louise-Marie Rousselie, Jean Delamarre, Alexis Prost – France 
Primitive Times • Hao Yu – Germany
The Lost Courier • Zidong Ma – China
Malacabra • Marylou BORT, Mathilde BOURGES, Hugo FLORIN, Jeremy GUIBERT, Valentine MINIOT, Vincent NOGUES, Axel PRUKOP, Pierre SEGONDS – France 
Lethal Morbier • Raphaël AUDUREAU, Laurène BINET, Solène DE VULPIAN, Lilian LARIGNON, Élise LARVOR, Thibaut LE MELEDO, Tom PINARD, Hugo TABONE – France 
The Eastern Rain • Milly Yencken – Estonia
Great Little Giant • Jakub Bozydar Dolny – Poland
Architect’s Cruise • Simon Hamlyn – United Kingdom
Rotten Child • Anej Gokar – Netherlands
Scratch • Jakub Krzyszpin – Poland
Unfound • Sahar Balfour – Israel
The Last Biscuit • Amy Fitzpatrick – United Kingdom
Crosswalk • Dria Volchok – Russia
Crab Day • Ross Stringer – United Kingdom
Fires • Mohammad Babakoohi – France
Oscar • Sixtine Bonnot – France
End of Summer • Tara Attarzadeh – Iran
I Will Take Your Shadow • Ayala Shoshana Guy – Germany
Dandelion • Ling Zhao, Zhengwu Gu – United Kingdom
The General’s Room • Georges – Denmark
Pull the Plug • Adele Fisch, Carlotta Steckner – Netherland
Pipás • Lili Tóth – Hungary
La Note • Martina Generali, Simone Pratola, Francesca Sofia Rosso – Italy
Borders • Lazar Predrag Bačkonja – Serbia
The Cactus • Ricardo Kump – Brazil 
Chicken • Anna Benner – Germany 
The Long Legged Man • Vitor Hugo Rocha – Portugal 
Morning Shadows • Rita Curchinho Neves – Portugal 
Sweet Like Lemons • Jenny Jokela – United Kingdom 
Tomato Kitchen • Junyi Xiao – China 
Skins • Argentina Mazzarulli – Italy 

Friendly Fire

National Competition

 António Gaio Award

The Wide Eyed Girl and the Long Legged Boy • Maria Hespanhol – Portugal
Morning Shadow• Rita Cruchinho Neves – Portugal
The Time Keeping House • Joana Imaginário – Portugal 
Foxtale • Alexandra Allen – Portugal 
Almost Forgotten • Miguel Lima, Dimitri Mihajlovic – Portugal
Ana Morphose • João Rodrigues – Portugal
De Império • Alessandro Novelli – Portugal 
Cold Soup • Marta Monteiro – Portugal 
The Long Legged Man • Vitor Hugo Rocha – Portugal
Look • Nuno Amorim – Portugal
Something I Said • Sara Barbas – Portugal 
Easter • André Ruivo – Portugal
The Foam and the Lion • Cláudio Jordão – Portugal 

Cold Soup

Young Portuguese Director Award (over 18 till 30 years of age)

The Beating Seed • ASA ( Marta Ribeiro ), Alice do Carmo, Laura Pires, Tiago Pimenta – UALG (Portugal)
My Seagull Espanhola • Barbara Barreto, Catarina Santos, Raquel Salvado – Lusófona (Portugal) 
Home • Filipa da Costa Gaspar (Portugal)
Warmth • Caroline Soares, Gwenaëlle de Ville, Patrícia Lopes – Lusófona (Portugal)
Documentary Survival Kit • Filipe Cansado, Luís Ribeiro, Nicolas Freitas – Lusófona (Portugal)
Memories of Blackwood and Ivory • Inês Costa – Portugal
Morpheus • Tomás Figueiredo de Sousa, Diogo Anastácio Rodrigues – UBICINEMA (Portugal)
Sunflowers – A Strange Feeling of Existential Angst • Carolina Bonzinho, Leander Meresaar – Portugal
Trousseau • Mariana Pardal Jacinto – Portugal

Young Portuguese Director Award (under 18 years of age)

The Apparent Chaos of Diversity • Coletivo Fotograma 24 – Portugal
Moon Mole • Orientação de Laura Gonçalves e Alexandra Ramires – Portugal
The Princess Who Overcame Fear • Associação de Ludotecas do Porto – Alunos do 2º ano da Escola EB de Costa Cabral
The Magic Pencil • Associação de Ludotecas do Porto . Alunos do 3º Ano G! da Escola de Fernão de Magalhães – Portugal
Reclaiming the Colour • Crianças da 6 E.B Ovar – Portugal
Prya • Melissa Coutinho – Portugal
My Cat’s Life • Matilde Dionísio – Portugal
Class • 8.º C Class | ESEN 2022-23 – Cineclube de Viseu – Portugal
River Union • Casa Museu Vilar – Portugal
Des(ordem) Musical • Casa Museu Vilar – Portugal

The 47th Cinanima International Animated Film Festival takes place 13-19 November 2023, in Espinho, Portugal.

Want to read more free articles like this?

Keep this professional animation journalism effort relevant and updated. Become our patron