On September 18, CINANIMA – Espinho International Animation Film Festival presented the main themes and highlights of its 49th edition, which will take place from November 7 to 16, 2025. The session, which took place at Biblioteca Municipal José Marmelo e Silva, was led by the CINANIMA core team and marked the start of a cycle that anticipates the 50th anniversary celebrations to be held in 2026.
In 2025, CINANIMA will host a special tribute to António Gaio, one of its founders, in the year that marks the centenary of his birth. This project will feature several events: a photography exhibition at Centro Multimeios de Espinho gallery; video mapping in Sala António Gaio; and a large-format screen in Vila Manuela. This is a joint initiative of Cooperativa Nascente with the Espinho City Council, ESMAD – School of Media Arts and Design | IPP, curated and designed by Olívia Marques da Silva.
“Maori Legends of New Zealand” and the immersive concert “The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd NSC,” at Planetário of Centro Multimeios de Espinho.
Session entitled “100 Years of Vasco Granja, The Man who made us Dream,” in tribute to Vasco Granja, a key figure in the promotion of animated cinema in Portugal, in the year of his centenary, curated by Ricardo Blanco.
Film screening “Palestine: Between Heaven and Earth” featuring films by children, women, and international filmmakers, in tribute to the Palestinian people.
After a few years' hiatus, CINANIMA is once again offering cash prizes for some of the competitions.
Competition dedicated to new languages and engagement between styles and generations.
In this edition, CINANIMA proposes a broad reflection on memory as the raw material of the future. “What is the future that the past anticipates? What questions does it raise?” — questions that guide a program that confronts the preservation and reinterpretation of heritage, combines analog techniques and digital processes, and invites filmmakers to revisit archives, visual diaries, rituals, and mythologies to (re)imagine tomorrow. This curatorial line takes on meaning in the year leading up to the festival’s 50th anniversary, challenging authors and audiences to look ahead, without losing sight of the historical foundation that established CINANIMA.
Following the tradition of recent years and seeking to give a voice to younger people, the festival invited the Animation School of Technology, Management and Design of Portalegre Polytechnic University to create the official opening credits for the 49th edition, a piece that translates the spirit of CINANIMA and the city that hosts it into moving images.
This year, CINANIMA received 2,231 film submissions from 148 countries, with 110 selected for the official competitions. During the festival, more than 430 works from 50 different countries will be screened.
Competitive Sessions
Non-Competitive Sessions
Among the Retrospectives, audiences will be able to revisit the award-winning films of 2024, discover the work of invited European schools—The Polish National Film, Television, and Theater School in Lodz (From Lodz to the World) and the École Émile Cohl (Comedy & Youth)—as well as watch the special program “The Beautiful Mystery of the Origin of Memories,” conceived by Malcolm Turner, co-founder and director of the Melbourne International Animation Festival. There will also be two sessions entitled “Between Glances. The Jury,” which complete this cycle, revealing the perspective and artistic criteria of the edition’s jurors.
In the Special Sessions, the festival will screen the feature film Living Large, the program “100 Years of Vasco Granja, The Man Who Made Us Dream” (curated by Ricardo Blanco), and the aforementioned 360º Immersive Cinema, with “Maori Legends of New Zealand” and the immersive show “The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd NSC.”
One of the most symbolic moments will be the session “Palestine: Between Heaven and Earth”, with short films that include works created by children and women in Gaza, as well as short films by international authors brought together in a collective effort of solidarity, affirming the role of animation as a voice of resistance, empathy, and humanity.
The Family Sessions include two programs curated by CINANIMA (“Small Adventures and Playing with Stories”), two by Casa da Animação (“Mini Micro and a children’s program”), one by BUFF Malmö Film Festival in Sweden (“Between Worlds and Friends”) and one by Luxembourg City Film Festival (“Who Has Never Been Afraid?”). The family program closes with the feature film “Kayara – The Inca Girl”, an epic adventure that transports young audiences to the imaginary world of the Inca civilization.
The Retrospectives program will be joined by two more sessions – FAN Young European Talents and FAN Masters, as part of FAN – Festivals Animation Network, a network of European animation festivals coordinated by CINANIMA.
The social and educational dimension of the festival remains a central focus. In 2024, the “CINANIMA Goes to Schools” program involved more than 102,000 students in 5,557 sessions, from north to south Portugal, the Azores, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, Switzerland, and Belgium, with seven different programs tailored to different age groups. In 2025, the experience will continue, including school trips to the festival between November 7 and 21, and will also reach new geographical areas and communities.
“Schools Come to CINANIMA” has been a tradition at FACE in Espinho for many years. Since 2024, the festival has been working to expand this program, and in 2025, it will take a decisive step: bringing the experience to even more children from neighboring municipalities, such as Ovar, Oliveira de Azeméis, São João da Madeira, Santa Maria da Feira, Gondomar, and Paços de Brandão.
This year, the “Anilupa Workshops: Optical Toy Fair” will also be highlighted, an interactive and educational exhibition inspired by the early days of cinema. The public will be able to explore replicas of 19th-century optical devices and other devices that recreate visual phenomena and optical illusions. The initiative also includes original pieces and objects created in collaboration with social institutions in Espinho and Porto.
The Animation Art Workshop returns with new features and will be organized in three phases. In September, teachers participated in an accredited Short-Term Action, designed to give them tools and prepare them to accompany their classes. In October, work begins in the classroom, accompanied by teachers from the participating groups and specialized trainers, where students will shape their ideas, create scenarios and characters, and experiment with animation techniques. Finally, from November 7 to 12, everyone will gather in Espinho for Artistic Residencies, organized into three groups, and each class will spend two days refining their work, attending festival sessions, and socializing. The final result will be a collective film, about ten minutes long, composed of short animations of approximately one minute, designed by each school, to be screened at the festival’s closing session.
Accessibility and inclusion are reinforced as urgent commitments. The annual program includes a seminar on accessible cultural offerings, a session with audio description, screenings in social housing neighborhoods through the Anima Vam initiative, and exhibitions aimed at senior universities and day centers, in a clear strategy to broaden horizons and audiences.
In the field of training and critical thinking, CINANIMA once again brings together internationally renowned figures in masterclasses and debates. Authors such as Luca Tóth, Georges Sifianos, Kajsa Naess, Lucija Mrzljak, Steve Woods, Kaspar Jancis, Niccolò Gioia, and Adriana Andrade will share creative processes and working methodologies.
Alongside these initiatives, the National Film Plan’s Online Masterclass returns, as does the presentation of new animation projects at Projetos.PT and the 5th edition of the symposium “Olhares sobre a Animação Portuguesa” (Perspectives on Portuguese Animation).
The First Pitching Sessions, created in collaboration with Piquenique na Lua, also open up space for the new generation of talent in animation. This moment of the festival offers a unique opportunity to present projects in development to a panel of industry professionals, as well as to young creators looking for collaborations.
In 2025, the festival will occupy various venues in Espinho, as usual, highlighting its role as an urban cultural catalyst. In addition to Centro Multimeios de Espinho, FACE – Fórum de Arte e Cultura de Espinho, Sala Progresso, Junta de Freguesia de Espinho, Piscina Solário Atlântico, and Doo Boop will host exhibitions, debates, presentations, workshops, and meetings.
CINANIMA has the valuable support of long-standing sponsors – Solverde and Aipal – who are joined by the following partners: ESMAD (School of Media Arts and Design), Viarco, and Coletivo Salitre.
CINANIMA 2025 looks to the future without forgetting the archive that brought it here. “Memory: the Future of the Past” is an invitation to creators and audiences to rewrite, together, the images of the festival for the next 50 years.
2026. CINANIMA 24. All rights reserved
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