Cartoon Club (Cartoon Club – Festival Internazionale del Cinema d'Animazione, del Fumetto e dei Games)

Cartoon Club

Cartoon Club – Festival Internazionale del Cinema d'Animazione, del Fumetto e dei Games

Also known as: Cartoon Club – International Festival of Animation Cinema, Comics and Games
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Cartoon Club is the international festival of animation cinema, comics and games in Rimini. It dates back to 1985 and grew out of Acli Arte e Spettacolo, which still organises it. The festival first set out to present Italian animated film to the public; in 1996 it opened to international animation and to comics, in 1997 it launched the Signor Rossi Award for student films and the Riminicomix comics fair, and in 2005 it added a cosplay convention.

The competition centres on animated short films: the Cartoon Club Award for professional filmmakers and studios, the Signor Rossi Award for animation school students, the Cartoon Kids Award voted by a jury of children, the Cartoon Junior Award for films made in children's workshops and an environment award, alongside the non-competitive International Panorama. Screenings and exhibitions spread across venues in the historic centre and Piazzale Fellini by the sea. The dates of the 42nd edition are 12–19 July 2026.

Country

Italy

Categories

Animation, Short, Student

Awards and prizes

Cartoon Club Award: animated short films by professional filmmakers and production companies. Signor Rossi Award: animated shorts by secondary school and university students and students of animation film schools; a cash prize and the Signor Rossi Plate. Cartoon Kids Award: animated shorts for a young audience, chosen from the selection by a jury of children. Cartoon Junior Award: animated shorts made in workshops for children, in Italy or abroad. Cartoon Club AI Award: shorts fully animated with AI tools. Cartoon Club Environment Award (Romagna Acque): the selected film that best addresses environmental protection. The festival also gives lifetime achievement awards for animated film and for comic literature, and the Franco Fossati and Fede a Strisce awards for comics literature.

Festival rules

Only short animated films of 2'30" to 30 minutes are admitted; for the 2026 edition they had to be produced from 1 January 2024 onward and not shown at previous editions of the festival. Submission is free of charge, through FilmFreeway, Festhome or Click for Festivals. Selection is at the sole discretion of the festival. Selected films provide a high-quality .mp4 or .mov file, a list of English or Italian subtitles for foreign-language films, a synopsis, the director's bio-filmography and photo, and three film stills, within two weeks of the selection notice. Selected films may be included in the festival's free streaming programme, geo-blocked to Italy, unless the author declines; films with copyrighted music need permission for its use.

Contacts

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