IMAGINARIA - Festival Internazionale del Cinema d'Animazione d'Autore

**THE FESTIVAL**
Imaginaria – International Author Animation Film Festival is returning to Conversano from August 16 to August 23, 2026, for its 24th edition, organized by the Atalante ETS association. Founded in 2002, Imaginaria is the leading Italian festival dedicated to author animation cinema and one of the most recognized references in Europe. Each year, it transforms the medieval heart of Conversano—the Complex of San Benedetto, the forecourt of the Cathedral Basilica, the Aragonese Castle, and the historic squares—into open-air stages that create a unique atmosphere that brings together industry professionals, enthusiasts, and families in a context of rare architectural beauty.
Thanks to the Oscar qualification obtained in 2024 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the winner of the Main Competition automatically qualifies for consideration for the Best Animated Short Film nomination. The festival is also recognized with the EFFE Label (Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe) and is part of the F.A.N. – Festivals Animation Network, funded by the Creative Europe Media programme, alongside CINANIMA (Espinho, Portugal), Animafest Cyprus (Salamiou, Cyprus), Animasyros (Syros, Greece), and Prime The Animation (Valencia, Spain). The project aims to diversify the audience, promote emerging talent, and strengthen the circulation of European animation cinema worldwide.

**INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION**
The call for entries for 2026, open from January to May, recorded 3,360 submissions from over 60 countries, from which 128 works were selected across four competitive sections: Main Competition, Music Video Competition, Graduation Short Film Competition, and Children Short Film Competition. The selection reflects the vibrancy of international animated production, with works coming from France, Japan, Estonia, Colombia, Italy, the UK, Poland, Canada, Brazil, and many other countries.
The international jury for the Main Competition is composed of Joanna Quinn (two-time Oscar nominee, four BAFTA awards), Deanna Morse (vice president of ASIFA International, member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), Magda Guidi (animator and director, selected at the Venice Film Festival with Sogni al campo), Cristina Lima (programming coordinator of CINANIMA), and Nancy Denney-Phelps, journalist and producer specializing in European animation.

**CAREER AWARDS**
The 2026 edition will present the Career Award to two leading figures in global animation. Joanna Quinn, Welsh, created her character Beryl, which is one of the most original universes in author animation: her films Affairs of the Art and Famous Fred both received Oscar nominations, complemented by four BAFTA awards, three Emmys, and over a hundred international recognitions. Suzie Templeton, British, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2008 with Peter and the Wolf, produced in Poland over five years with more than two hundred collaborators, as well as the Grand Prix and Audience Award at the Annecy Festival in 2007.

**MUTOSONORO — LIVE MUSIC FOR SILENT CINEMA**
From August 17 to 20, the Church of San Benedetto hosts MUTOSONORO, a collateral section dedicated to silent cinema and its avant-garde, with live musical accompaniment from the collective Frame 0 (Francesco Giannico, Luigi Iovane, Vito Savino, Pietro D’Attoma, with the participation of composer Nik Phelps on sax). Four evenings traverse France, Italy, Japan, and Brazil: *Étude cinégraphique sur une arabesque* and *La Coquille et le Clergyman* by Germaine Dulac (August 17); *La guerra e il sogno di Momi* by Segundo de Chomón and *A Page of Madness* by Kinugasa (August 18); *Entr’acte, Ballet Mécanique,* and *Ménilmontant* (August 19); and the impressive *Limite* by Màrio Peixoto (August 20), a masterpiece of South American silent cinema.

**CONCERTS AND SPECIAL EVENTS**
The festival opens on August 16 with a concert by Gaia Banfi, a singer-songwriter and producer from Milan (1998), daughter of the historic keyboardist of *Un Biglietto per l’Inferno*. A graduate in Jazz Singing from the Conservatory of Bologna, her album *La Maccaia* (2025, Trovarobato) has been received by critics as one of the most interesting Italian records of the year, leading her to perform at the Trans Musicales in Rennes and the MENT Festival in Ljubljana.
On August 22, it will be AKA5HA's turn, a singer-songwriter and producer from Bologna (1996) who, with the album *Rifiorirai* (2025) and the recent *non è uno; sono due* (2026), has built an electronic singer-songwriter style of dense precision, where voice, synthesis, and acoustic sources engage with references ranging from IOSONOUNCANE to Bon Iver.
The closing evening on August 23, in the forecourt of the Cathedral Basilica of Conversano, will feature Ana Carla Maza, a cellist and singer born in Havana to a family of musicians. With three albums to her credit—*La Flor* (2020), *Bahía* and *Caribe* (2023)—and the new *Alamar*, presented at the Seine Musicale in Paris and at the Olympia, Ana Carla Maza brings the Caribbean musical magic to Conversano, blending bossa nova and tango with jazz and improvisation.

**EXHIBITIONS, WORKSHOPS, AND IMAGINARIA KIDS**
The visual program of Imaginaria 2026 features two illustration exhibitions curated by the Caracol Gallery of Turin, dedicated to French illustrators Jean Mallard—previously the Grand Award at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (2018) and visual identity of the Fair 2021—and Clément Thoby, a landscape artist trained at EMCA in Angoulême and a collaborator with international media.
The Imaginaria Kids section offers animation workshops, screenings, and a Special Jury made up of fourth and fifth-grade children from the schools of Conversano—within the framework of the Imaginaria Experience project funded by the national CIPS call—who will award the prize for the best animated short film for children. Masterclasses and workshops with animators, directors, illustrators, and musicians round out a program intended to engage audiences of all ages in a festival that is, above all, a community event.
Web: www.imaginaria.eu