VERNISSAGE | IMAGINARIA EXHIBITION
Diocesan Art Gallery – Church of St. Clare
August 17–24 – hours: 6:00 PM–11:00 PM | Free admission
“Deux Lumières” – two-person exhibition by Jean Mallard and Clément Thoby
Curated by Federico Cano Correa (Caracol Gallery – Turin)

Jean Mallard
A fan of Moebius’s comics and Miyazaki’s films, he fell in love with drawing early on and decided never to part with it. He joined the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2015, where he studied comics, animation, screen printing, and engraving. His favorite techniques are watercolor and gouache, which have accompanied him since childhood, and which he uses to create infinite worlds open to everyone. He builds his universe drawing inspiration from popular Russian painters, Indian miniatures, Japanese prints, and Douanier Rousseau. He moved to Naples in 2019, where he created a series of illustrations that would give rise to his very first exhibition, “#Via Miracoli”. His drawings were selected for the Bologna Illustration Fair in 2018 and 2020, and for Angoulême in 2019. He received the Grand Award in Bologna in 2018.

Clément Thoby
He studied applied arts in Paris, at the École Estienne and then at the Institut Sainte-Geneviève. He then specialized in animation filmmaking, attending EMCA in Angoulême. Passionate about color, he worked for five years as a set designer and art director for animation productions. Today he collaborates with international media, creative agencies, and global brands. His work consists mainly of landscapes created with colored pencils, inspired by his travels, real or imagined.

SPECIAL OPENING
Monastery of  St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden)
hours: 10.30 PM
Concert of GAIA BANFI
The Imaginaria festival is proud to present, in an exclusive appearance for Puglia, one of the most original and courageous voices on the contemporary Italian scene: Gaia Banfi. A singer-songwriter, musician, and producer from Milan, she graduated with top honors in Jazz Voice from the Conservatory of Bologna. The daughter of Baffo Banfi, historic keyboardist of the prog band Un Biglietto per l’Inferno, she grew up immersed in music and has built a highly personal language in which pop, singer-songwriter tradition, and electronic music merge in bold ways: airy vocals intertwined with distorted sounds pushed to the limits of singability, with the voice treated as a production element on par with any other instrument.
Visuals by Eduard Tampu and Federica Sorba (Nova Media Studio).

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IMAGINARIA LAB
Castle Conference Room | 5:45–7:45 PM
Animated reading with workshop by Noemi Vola
Creation of an illustrated book based on her book “If You Weep Like a Fountain” – Corraini Edizioni
Age: 5–7 years

Monastery of San Benedetto (Conference Room 1st floor) | 5.30 PM
Unstopped! –Animation film workshop led by Niccolò Gioia in collaboration with the Falcone e Borsellino – Carelli Comprehensive Institute and the Via Firenze-Forlani Comprehensive Institute.

IMAGINARIA EXHIBITION
Diocesan Art Gallery – Church of St. Clare
August 17–24 – hours: 6:00 PM–11:00 PM | Free admission
“Deux Lumières” – two-person exhibition by Jean Mallard and Clément Thoby
Curated by Federico Cano Correa (Caracol Gallery – Turin)

MUTOSONORO
Monastery of San Benedetto (Church of San Benedetto) | 8:30–9:30 PM | Free admission
A brand-new festival production dedicated to silent cinema and its avant-gardes, with live musical accompaniment by the Frame 0 collective. Four evenings spanning France, Japan, Italy, and Brazil, rediscovering some of the experimental peaks of cinema’s first thirty years. The Frame 0 collective is made up of Francesco Giannico (synth, effects, guitar, piano), Luigi Iovane (drums, percussion), Vito Savino (double bass), Pietro D’Attoma (electric guitar) and, for this occasion, composer and musician Nik Phelps (sax).

• Étude cinégraphique sur une arabesque
  Germaine Dulac (France, 1929, 7’13”)
  A purely visual exploration of dance movement, in which Dulac translates the rhythm and shape of an arabesque into images through superimpositions, slow motion, and abstract editing. One of the most refined examples of “pure cinema” and integral cinema in her body of work.
• The Seashell and the Clergyman (La Coquille et le Clergyman)
  Germaine Dulac, screenplay by Antonin Artaud (France, 1928, 40′)
  The erotic hallucinations of a clergyman obsessed with a general’s wife, in a sequence of dreamlike and symbolic images. Released a year before Un chien andalou, it is often cited as the first surrealist film in history.

• Étude cinégraphique sur une arabesque
  Germaine Dulac (Francia, 1929, 7’13)
  Un’esplorazione puramente visiva del movimento danzato, in cui Dulac traduce in immagini il ritmo e la forma di un’arabesque attraverso sovrimpressioni, rallenti e montaggio astratto. Uno degli esempi più raffinati di “cinema puro” e cinema integrale della sua produzione.
• The Seashell and the Clergyman (La Coquille et le Clergyman)
  Germaine Dulac, sceneggiatura di Antonin Artaud (Francia, 1928, 40′)
  Le allucinazioni erotiche di un religioso ossessionato dalla moglie di un generale, in una sequenza di immagini oniriche e simboliche. Uscito un anno prima di Un chien andalou, è spesso indicato come il primo film surrealista della storia.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of  San Benedetto (Lemon’s Garden) | 9,00 PM

Screenings CHILDREN SHORT FILM COMPETITION
A sunny story — Masha Rumyantseva (Portugal, Russian Federation, 2026, 6′)
Aller & Retour — Lucia Bulgheroni, Michele Greco (Italy, 2025, 9′)
Atlante — Filippo Biasiotto, Gabriele Carollo, Massimo Vagliviello (Italy, 2025, 7′)
Backstreet Birds — Gertrūda Nemčauskaitė (Lithuania, 2025, 7′)
Birds of Paradise — Tomek Ducki (Poland, 2025, 9′)
Camille & Chamäleon — Lucie Nichelmann (Germany, 2025, 13′)
Cloud Fish — Noe Garcia (Belgium, France, 2025, 6′)
Experiences and learning. And parenting. — Malgorzata Rybak (Poland, 2025, 5′)

PANORAMA KIDS
Monastery of San Benedetto (Lemon Garden) | 10:00 PM
Panorama Kids is a collateral, out-of-competition initiative featuring the screening of 5 carefully selected animated feature films, suitable for everyone and especially for children and families.

Retrospective Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol
A Cat in Paris by Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol (2010, France, 70′)
Dino is a cat with a double life: by day he lives with Zoé, a little girl who lost the power of speech after the death of her father, a police officer killed by the criminal Victor Costa; by night he roams the rooftops of Paris with Nico, a thief with a good heart. Zoé’s mother, Jeanne, a police captain, is consumed by her work and by the operation to protect a statue targeted by Costa himself. When Zoé secretly follows the cat, she discovers that her babysitter is an accomplice of the criminal gang.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of San Benedetto (Romanesque cloister) | 9:30 PM

Screenings GRADUATION SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Awakening Night — Julie-Ann Déry (Canada, 2025, 3′)
By her hands — Jean Marinesco (France, 2026, 5′)
Cold Bathroom — Eleni Aerts (Belgium, 2025, 6′)
Dance of the Spirits — Andreea Lorena Florea (United Kingdom, 2026, 6′)
Doug + Me — Cecile Fountain-Jardim (United Kingdom, United States, 2026, 6′)
False Door — Oktawia Derybowska (Poland, 2026, 7′)

Screenings MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
Bitter Tears — Antonia Piña, Luz Andrea Sierra (Chile, 2025, 5′)
emory “dirt” — Julia Fernandez (United States, 2025, 4′)

Screenings MAIN COMPETITION
8minutes25seconds10frames — Vinicio Basile (Italy, 2025, 10′)
Albastı — Imge Özbilge, Sine Özbilge (Belgium, 2025, 6′)
Anyone lived in a pretty how town — Daniel Kreizberg (Lithuania, Monaco, United States, 2026, 9′)
Atomik Tour — Bruno Collet (France, 2025, 13′)
Biting the hands that feeds you — Chantal Peten (Belgium, France, 2025, 6′)
Black Box — Anton Dyakov (Norway, 2026, 9′)
Breaking News, but Slowly — Makoto Sudo (Japan, 2026, 4′)
Carla and her legs — Christoph Büttner (Germany, 2026, 14′)
Cocoon — Inés Sedan (France, 2026, 13′)
Creation — Béla Klingl (Hungary, 2025, 6′)
Uka-uka — Henri Veermäe (Estonia, 2026, 12′)
Winter in March — Natalia Mirzoyan (Armenia, Belgium, Estonia, France, 2025, 16′)

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IMAGINARIA LAB
Castle Conference Hall | 5:45 PM/7:45 PM
Animated reading with workshop led by Noemi Vola
Drawing darkness, starting from the book “La lunga notte dei rospi” (“The Long Night of the Toads”) by Noemi Vola – Canicola Edizioni
Age: 7/10 years

Monastery of St. Benedict (1st Floor Conference Room) | 5:30 PM
Unstopped! – animation film workshop led by Niccolò Gioia in collaboration with Istituto Comprensivo “Falcone e Borsellino – Carelli” and Istituto Comprensivo “Via Firenze-Forlani”.

IMAGINARIA EXHIBITION
Diocesan Art Gallery – Church of St. Clare
August 17–24 – hours: 6:00 PM–11:00 PM | Free admission
“Deux Lumières” – two-person exhibition by Jean Mallard and Clément Thoby
Curated by Federico Cano Correa (Caracol Gallery – Turin)

IMAGINARIA MEETINGS
San Benedetto Terrace | 7:30 PM | Free admission
Meetings with the authors

Oscar-winning director Suzie Templeton in conversation with Luca Raffaelli

MUTOSONORO

Monastery of St. Benedict (Church of St. Benedict) | 8:30–9:30 PM | Free admission
A brand-new festival production dedicated to silent cinema and its avant-gardes, with live musical accompaniment by the Frame 0 collective.
Four evenings spanning France, Japan, Italy, and Brazil, rediscovering some of the experimental peaks of cinema’s first thirty years. The Frame 0 collective is made up of Francesco Giannico (synth, effects, guitar, piano), Luigi Iovane (drums, percussion), Vito Savino (double bass), Pietro D’Attoma (electric guitar) and, for this occasion, composer and musician Nik Phelps (sax).

La guerra e il sogno di Momi (Momi’s War and Dream)
Segundo de Chomón (Italy, 1917, 37′)
Little Momi falls asleep after listening to letters from his soldier father and dreams of a war fought between stop-motion animated puppets. It is the first Italian animated film, made by “the wizard of special effects” Segundo de Chomón for the Turin-based Itala Film.
Event held in collaboration with the National Museum of Cinema in Turin.
Original music by Fabio Sodano, Fabio Costantino, Maurizio Salemi, and Michele Catania.

A Page of Madness (Kurutta Ichipeiji)
Teinosuke Kinugasa (Japan, 1926, 70′)
Set in a psychiatric hospital, it tells the story of a former sailor who gets hired as an orderly in order to remain close to his institutionalized wife.
Made without intertitles, it was originally screened with live narration by benshi performers; believed lost for 45 years, it was rediscovered by Kinugasa himself in 1971.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden) | 9.00 PM

Screenings CHILDREN SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Fin People — Veronika Hozjan (Croatia, Slovenia, 2025, 10′)
Fire in My Pocket — Janka Feiner (Hungary, 2026, 10′)
Found ! — Juliette Baily (Belgium, France, 2025, 5′)
Grandpa — Dubravko Kastrapeli (Croatia, 2025, 7′)
Kosmogonia — Karolina Chabier (France, 2025, 16′)
Mono — Almudena Monzú (Spain, 2026, 12′)
My Oddly Unexpected Bond — Carolina Batista (Italy, Portugal, 2025, 10′)

PANORAMA KIDS
Monastery of St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden) | 10.00 PM
Panorama Kids is a collateral, out-of-competition initiative featuring the screening of 5 carefully selected animated feature films, suitable for everyone and especially for children and families.

Retrospective Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol

Phantom Boy by Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol (France, 2015, 84′) – Italian dubbed
New York: a mysterious, disfigured criminal shoots and seriously wounds Alex, the police inspector who was on his trail. Immobilized in the hospital, Alex meets Leo, an eleven-year-old boy with the ability to leave his own body. Like a ghost, invisible to everyone, the boy flies and passes through walls. When the disfigured gangster threatens the city with a computer virus, Alex, thanks to the boy’s extraordinary powers, resumes his investigation. Helping them is Mary, a determined and strong-willed journalist.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of St. Benedict (Romanesque cloister) | 9.30 PM

Screenings GRADUATION SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Fingerbang — Yeonwoo Kim (South Korea, 2026, 15′)
Fisheye — Łukasz Rygał (Poland, 2025, 11′)
Foreign Bodies — Lysander Wong (Hong Kong, United Kingdom, 2025, 4′)
Fructus Fliegus — Emilia Zieser (Germany, 2025, 5′)
The joy of being — Emma Bruun Ruus (Denmark, 2025, 10′)
things that i was gathering — Ekaterina Zhuzhleva (Belgium, Finland, Portugal, 2025, 6′)

Screenings MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
Juana Molina – “Uninhuman” — Dante Alan Zaballa (Argentina, 2025, 5′)
M’en aller — Albane Chaumet (France, 2026, 3′)
Machine’s Dream — Natalia Ryss (Israel, 2025, 4′)
Vesna: Dokola — Barbora Matějová, Aneta Doležalová (Czechia, 2025, 3′)

Screenings MAIN COMPETITION
Daughters of the Late Colonel — Elizabeth Hobbs (Germany, 2026, 9′)
Dear KanKan — Hana Zhang, Eugene Lee (China, 2025, 17′)
Decay — Juan Camilo González (Colombia, 2025, 7′)
Derniers Printemps — Mathilde Bedouet (France, 2026, 17′)
Dollhouse Elephant — Jenny Jokela (Finland, 2025, 11′)
Dynamo — Tal Gadon (Portugal, 2026, 11′)
Eating Time — Mari Kivi (Estonia, 2025, 16′)
Invisible Harvests — Stephanie Dudley (Canada, 2026, 6′)

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IMAGINARIA LAB
Monastery of St. Benedict (1st Floor Conference Room) | 5.30 PM
Unstopped! – animation film workshop led by Niccolò Gioia in collaboration with Istituto Comprensivo “Falcone e Borsellino – Carelli” and Istituto Comprensivo “Via Firenze-Forlani”.

Castle Conference Hall | 5:45 PM/7:45 PM
Manga Workshop by Marina Mundo
Age: 8+

IMAGINARIA EXHIBITION
Diocesan Art Gallery – Church of St. Clare
August 17–24 – hours: 6:00 PM–11:00 PM | Free admission
“Deux Lumières” – two-person exhibition by Jean Mallard and Clément Thoby
Curated by Federico Cano Correa (Caracol Gallery – Turin)

IMAGINARIA MEETINGS
San Benedetto Terrace | 7:30 PM | Free admission
Meetings with the Authors
Animation for Peace: A Global Initiative by ASIFA & AWG – Anastasia Dimitra in conversation with Deanna Morse

Deanna Morse and Anastasia Dimitra, animators and members of ASIFA and the Animation Workshop Group (AWG), present the Peace Project, an international initiative that engages artists, educators, and young creators from around the world in exploring peace through animation. This event focuses on the power of animation as a universal language capable of fostering dialogue, empathy, and collaboration between cultures. The event will include a presentation of works and materials from the project and a final discussion with the audience.

MUTOSONORO
Monastery of St. Benedict (Church of St. Benedict) | 8.30-9.30 PM| Free admission
A brand-new festival production dedicated to silent cinema and its avant-gardes, with live musical accompaniment by the Frame 0 collective.
Four evenings spanning France, Japan, Italy, and Brazil, rediscovering some of the experimental peaks of cinema’s first thirty years.
The Frame 0 collective is made up of Francesco Giannico (synth, effects, guitar, piano), Luigi Iovane (drums, percussion), Vito Savino (double bass), Pietro D’Attoma (electric guitar) and, for this occasion, composer and musician Nik Phelps (sax).

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden) | 9.00 PM

Screenings CHILDREN SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Nome is an Island — Vojin Vasovic (Canada, Serbia, Spain, 2026, 8′)
On Saint Nicholas’ Eve — Emy Mirel Ivasca (Romania, 2025, 11′)
Pelle – Friends Don’t Sink — Romana Bauer, Sophia Galneder, Leo Semmelmann (Germany, 2025, 6′)
Piccolo Piccolo — Marta Gennari (France, Switzerland, 2025, 9′)
Prout — Marc-Henri Wajnberg (Belgium, 2025, 8′)
Saba — Liron Topaz (United States, 2026, 10′)
Sketches on Ice — Marion Auvin (Belgium, France, 2025, 4′)

PANORAMA KIDS
Monastery of St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden) | 10.00 PM
Panorama Kids is a collateral, out-of-competition initiative featuring the screening of 5 carefully selected animated feature films, suitable for everyone and especially for children and families.

Retrospective Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol
Nina and the Hedgehog’s Secret by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol (France, 2023, 77′) – Italian dubbed
Nina loves the bedtime stories her father tells her, but one evening he’s too stressed from work to come up with a new one. Together with her best friend Mehdi, Nina decides to search for a hidden treasure in the old factory where her father used to work, hoping to solve all the family’s problems. Between nosy neighbors, guards to dodge, and dogs to evade, the two set off on a small but mighty mission, helped along by a detective hedgehog.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of St. Benedict (Romanesque cloister) | 9.30 PM

Screenings GRADUATION SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Gently — Jamaica Kindlová (Czechia, 2026, 9′)
Hand — Jing Wang (Japan, 2025, 5′)
I — Chih-Chen Hsu (Taiwan, 2025, 4′)
Judy1964 — Marie-Hélène Van Thuyne (Belgium, 2025, 5′)
Le Jardin Rossini — collettivo (France, 2025, 10′)
Marc Page and the round goat cheese — collettivo (France, 2025, 8′)

Screenings MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
Pictures for Piano (1) — Diek Grobler (South Africa, 2025, 3′)
Saltwater — Eilidh Nicoll (UK, 2026, 3’30”)
sea, take it away — Raia Vasileva, Masha Rodicheva (Georgia, 2026, 3′)

Screenings MAIN COMPETITION
Julka — Valeria Cozzarini (Italy, Slovenia, 2025, 12′)
Lake Messejana — Diego Maia (Brazil, 2026, 10′)
Last Flower — Antoine Jablonski (France, 2026, 10′)
Like A Fairy Tale — Kirill Khachaturov (France, Luxembourg, 2025, 16′)
Notti di trecento ore — Michele Bernardi (Italy, 2026, 11’10”)
Once in a body — María Cristina Pérez González (Colombia, United States, 2025, 10′)
Visit into irradiated land — Anne-Sophie Girault (France, 2026, 19′)
Waiting for the Barbarians — Georges Sifianos (Greece, 2026, 12′)
Water Girl — Sandra Desmazières (France, Netherlands, Portugal, 2025, 15′)

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IMAGINARIA LAB
Monastery of St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden | 6.00-7.30 PM
Animated reading and creative workshop by Ciurma, based on the book “Who’s the Bee?” – Terre di Mezzo
Age: 2-4 years

Moanstery of St. Benedict (1st Floor Conference Room) | 5:30 PM
Unstopped! – animation film workshop led by Niccolò Gioia in collaboration with Istituto Comprensivo “Falcone e Borsellino – Carelli” and Istituto Comprensivo “Via Firenze-Forlani”

IMAGINARIA EXHIBITION
Diocesan Art Gallery – Church of St. Clare
August 17–24 – hours: 6:00 PM–11:00 PM | Free admission
“Deux Lumières” – two-person exhibition by Jean Mallard and Clément Thoby
Curated by Federico Cano Correa (Caracol Gallery – Turin)

IMAGINARIA MEETINGS
San Benedetto Terrace | 7:30 PM | Free admission
Author Meetings
Joanna Quinn in conversation with Nancy Denney-Phelps

An informal and story-filled meeting in which Joanna Quinn and Nancy Denney-Phelps will discuss their recently published books, their respective artistic journeys, and everything that emerges spontaneously from their conversation. An event filled with smiles, anecdotes, and stories from the world of animation.
Joanna Quinn will present BERYL, dedicated to her iconic character, her studio, and her creative process. Nancy Denney-Phelps will discuss ON THE ANIMATION TRAIL: 20 Years of Festival History, a journey through twenty years of animation festivals, from her experiences in Beirut to China and beyond. Following the meeting, there will be an opportunity to meet the authors and participate in a book signing.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden | 9.00 PM

Screenings CHILDREN SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Sunspark — Danny Bourque (United States, 2026, 11′)
The bear and the hunter — Gustave Ballard (France, 2025, 4′)
The Great Dreamscape — Remi Durin (Belgium, France, 2025, 25′)
The Lighthouse Keeper — Andy Kaiser (Germany, 2025, 11′)
The Piano — Avery Kroll (United States, 2025, 8′)
The Sky Was Candy — Anh Tú Nguyen (Germany, 2025, 3′)
The Wily Ones — Zarja Menart (Slovenia, 2026, 5′)

PANORAMA KIDS
Monastery of St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden) | 10.00 PM
Panorama Kids is a collateral, out-of-competition initiative featuring the screening of 5 carefully selected animated feature films, suitable for everyone and especially for children and families.

Tales from the Enchanted Garden
David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar, Jean-Claude Rozec (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, France, 2025, 71′) V.O.S.I.
Based on three tales by Arnošt Goldflam, the film tells the story of three siblings. One day, at their grandparents’ house, nothing is as usual: grandpa is absent-minded, grandma is nowhere to be found, and everything seems to be going wrong. So it falls to one of the three to improvise as a storyteller, trying to fill the void left by their grandmother’s absence.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of St. Benedict (Romanesque cloister) | 9.30 PM

Screenings GRADUATION SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Me and You and Smoke — Rachel Shiloach (United Kingdom, 2025, 8′)
Mis-Angel — Wyatt Carson (United Kingdom, 2025, 6′)
Mom — Camille De Vulpillieres (Belgium, 2025, 13′)
My Grandmother is a Skydiver — Polina Piddubna (Germany, 2025, 10′)

Screenings MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
Shadows of Waiting — Svetlana Goncharenko (Ukraine, 2025, 3′)
The Mind Movies — Burkhard Finckh (Germany, 2024, 3′)
The Phoenix — Mary Yanko, Marlène Ciampossin (Argentina, France, Ukraine, 2025, 4′)

Monastery of St. Benedict (Romanesque cloister) | 10:30 PM
CAREER HONOR to Joanna Quinn
With the 2026 Career Award, Imaginaria – International Festival of Auteur Animated Film celebrates Joanna Quinn for a career built entirely by hand, film after film, with an unmistakable graphic style and a worldview that combines fierce irony and profound humanity. Her characters—primarily Beryl, a rebellious worker and unparalleled anti-heroine—have transformed animation into a tool of social commentary and women’s liberation, captivating festivals, academies, and hearts around the world.

Screenings MAIN COMPETITION
Paper Daughter — Cami Kwan (United States, 2025, 15′)
Pembe & Eflatun — Alix Bortoli, Dal Park (Netherlands, 2025, 7′)
Penguin — Kaspar Jancis (Estonia, 2026, 15′)
Please — Anna Mantzaris (Czechia, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden, 2026, 9′)
Rest — Ryotaro Miyajima (Japan, 2025, 5′)
Small Hours — Oscar Wyndham Lewis (United Kingdom, 2026, 10′)
Tears — Paulina Ziolkowska (Poland, 2025, 9′)
The Berry Picker — Pieter Coudyzer (Belgium, 2026, 38′)

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IMAGINARIA LAB
Castle Conference Hall | 5:00 PM/8:00 PM
Natural screen printing workshop with free t-shirts for participants, hosted by Ammostro

Monastery of St. Benedict (1st Floor Conference Room) | 5:30 PM
Unstopped! – animation film workshop led by Niccolò Gioia in collaboration with Istituto Comprensivo “Falcone e Borsellino – Carelli” and Istituto Comprensivo “Via Firenze-Forlani”.

IMAGINARIA EXHIBITION
Diocesan Art Gallery – Church of St. Clare
August 17–24 – hours: 6:00 PM–11:00 PM | Free admission
“Deux Lumières” – two-person exhibition by Jean Mallard and Clément Thoby
Curated by Federico Cano Correa (Caracol Gallery – Turin)

IMAGINARIA MEETINGS
Monastery of St. Benedict (Church of St. Benedict) | 7:30 PM | Free admission
Meetings with the Authors
F.A.N. Festival Animation Network
A meeting with Vassilis Karamitsanis of Animasyros, Cristina Lima of CINANIMA, and Beatrice Mazzone of Imaginaria, dedicated to FAN – Festivals Animation Network, the international network uniting five European animation festivals with the aim of promoting auteur animated cinema, supporting new talent, and fostering cultural exchange through collaboration between festivals.
A brief presentation of the project’s activities will introduce the screening of a selection of short films from the FAN Tour Masters program, a journey through the works of some of the most important European animation authors, brought into dialogue with diverse audiences and cultural contexts thanks to the international network of partner festivals. This will be an opportunity to discover the value of collaboration and the role of festivals in the dissemination and promotion of contemporary animation.

F.A.N. TOUR 2026
Monastery of St. Benedict (Church of San Benedetto)
Hours: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM | Free admission

Imaginaria is a partner in the FAN – Festivals Animation Network project, funded by the Creative Europe MEDIA program and led by the Portuguese festival Cinanima. The network brings together five European festivals—including Animafest Cyprus, Animasyros (Greece), Prime The Animation (Spain), and Imaginaria itself—with the aim of promoting auteur animation, developing new audiences, producing films in schools, and fostering educational exchanges. The network includes associated festivals from across Europe, as well as from Australia, Mexico, and India, under the common theme “Look to Expand.”

The following screenings will be preceded by a short presentation on the F.A.N. project with contributions from the project coordinators: Beatrice Mazzone (Italy), Vassillos Karamitsanis (Greece), and Cristina Lima (Portugal).

Screenings – FAN Masters (theme: freedom)

International Festival of Auteur Animation (Conversano, Italy) 
Il burattino e la balena by Roberto Catani (Italy, 2025, 8′)
L’attesa del maggio by Simone Massi (Italy, 2014, 8′)
Playing God by Matteo Burani (Italy, 2024, 9′)
Tinnitus#3 by Michele Bernardi (Italy, 2025, 6’40”)

Animafest Cyprus (Salamiou, Cyprus)
Little Human by Christiana Ioannou (Cyprus, 2024, 5’54”)
The Parrot Lady by Michalis Kalopaidis (Cyprus, 2020, 6’45”)
The Weaver by Yiorgos Tsangaris (Cyprus, 2025, 4’20”)

Animasyros International Animation Festival (Syros, Greece)
The Life and Work of Yanoulis Halepas by Zina Papadopoulou (Greece, 2024, 6’32”)
The Synthetic Age by Dimitris Armenakis (Greece, 2025, 7’39”)
The Distance Between the Staircase and the Sky by Katerina Athanasopoulou (Greece, 2022, 7′)
Dream by Semiramis Mamata (Greece, 2025, 4’44”)
The Mushroom Man by Petros Niamonitakis (Greece, 2024, 4’02”)

Cinanima (Espinho, Portugal) 
Mi Vida En Tus Manos by Nuno Beato (Portugal, 2009, 8’30”)
Cold Soup by Marta Monteiro (Portugal, 2023, 9’50”)
The Pink Jacket by Mónica Santos (Portugal, 2022, 8’20”)

Prime The Animation (Valencia, Spagna)
Adiós by José Prats (Spain, 2024, 8’30”)
Amor de mono by Paulo Mosca / Abel Sánchez (Spain, 2015, 4’30”)
Echoes by Diana Acién (Spain, 2019, 5’29”)
Proceso de selección by Carla Pereira (Spain, 2021, 3’30”)
Zepo by César Díaz Meléndez (Spain, 2014, 3’08”)

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden) | 9.00 PM

Screenings CHILDREN SHORT FILM COMPETITION
The Winter Cat — Aurora Cesarini, Silvia Sabbatini, Marta Zanoni (Italy, 2025, 7′)
There once was a tiger — Marina Verik, Dmitry Mosyagin (Russian Federation, 2025, 12′)
Till The Stars Rise — Yu Yu (Taiwan, 2025, 16′)
Whisper of the Sea — Elva Arrieta Tabuzo (Peru, 2025, 13′)
Wolfie — Philippe Kastner (—, 2025, 13′)
Yugen — Nayelli Ojeda (Mexico, 2025, 6′)

Monastery of St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden) | 10.00 PM
Screening of the short film made during the animation film workshop
Award ceremony for the Best Children’s Short Film in the presence of the Children’s Jury

PANORAMA KIDS
Monastery of St. Benedict (Lemon’s Garden) | 10.00 PM
Panorama Kids is a collateral, out-of-competition initiative featuring the screening of 5 carefully selected animated feature films, suitable for everyone and especially for children and families.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of St. Benedict (Romanesque cloister) | 9.30 PM

Proiezioni/Screenings GRADUATION SHORT FILM COMPETITION
O’ Bingo! — Ian Kelewae (United States, 2025, 5′)
Olongho — Anna Pyzik (Poland, 2025, 4′)
Paper Parts — Thomas Range (Germany, 2026, 5′)
Pebble to Pebble — Charlotte Annereau (France, 2025, 10′)
People Live Here — Gabrielle Côté (Canada, 2025, 12′)

Screenings MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
The Spring Sea — Koji Yamamura (Japan, 2025, 8′)
Traffic Lights – Flea feat. Thom Yorke — Nespy 5euro (Italy, 2026, 6′)
Turn My Love — Rosalie Loncin (France, 2025, 4′)

Monastery of St. Benedict (Romanesque cloister) | 10.30 PM
Career Honor to Suzie Templeton
With the 2026 Career Award, Imaginaria – International Festival of Authorial Animated Film celebrates Suzie Templeton for a career that has redefined the boundaries of stop-motion, bringing stories of extraordinary emotional intensity to the big screen through the patience and artisanal precision of animated sculpture. Her cinema is an act of total presence: every character’s gesture is thoughtful, every surface bears the mark of the hands that crafted it.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Monastery of St. Benedict (Romanesque cloister) | 11.00 PM

Screenings MAIN COMPETITION
The Flesh Dress — Joachim Hérissé (France, 2026, 15′)
The Garden — Carolina Charadán, Miguel Machado (Canada, Cuba, Mexico, 2025, 12′)
The Picture of Dorian Gray — Georges Schwizgebel (Swiss, 2026, 6’40”)
The Pool or Death of a Goldfish — Daria Kopiec (Poland, 2025, 14′)
This Is Your Captain Speaking — Nienke Deutz, Digna Van Der Put (Belgium, Netherlands, 2026, 14′)
Traces — Tilly Wallace (United Kingdom, 2025, 6′)
Tsunami — María Pulido (Spain, 2026, 9′)

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IMAGINARIA LAB
Monastery of San Benedetto (Lemon Garden) | 6:00–7:30 PM
Animated reading and creative workshop based on the book “Faccio un etto con l’osso” – Terre di Mezzo, organized by Ciurma
Age: 5–7 years

IMAGINARIA EXHIBITION
Diocesan Art Gallery – Church of St. Clare
August 17–24 – hours: 6:00 PM–11:00 PM | Free admission
“Deux Lumières” – two-person exhibition by Jean Mallard and Clément Thoby
Curated by Federico Cano Correa (Caracol Gallery – Turin)

COMPETIZIONE INTERNAZIONALE
Monastery of San Benedetto (Romanesque cloister) | 9:30pm

Screenings GRADUATION SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Plankton α — Yini Guo (Japan, 2026, 4′)
Sunburn — Esther Son (South Korea, United States, 2026, 5′)
The Fall — collettivo (France, 2025, 7′)

Screenings MAIN COMPETITION
Una rosa — Simone Massi (Italy, 2026, 5′)
Wavelength — Holly Warburton, Toffee Hammer (United Kingdom, 2025, 4′)
Work Done — Jaime Freire (Chile, 2026, 11′)

Imaginaria Awards 2026
The jury composed of Joanna Quinn, Cristina Lima, Magda Guidi, Nancy Denney and Deanna Morse will award the prizes to the various categories in competition.

10.30pm – PERSEPOLIS – A Tribute to Marjane Satrapi

We close this edition of Imaginaria with Persepolis, the film Marjane Satrapi adapted from her celebrated graphic novel, together with Vincent Paronnaud. A coming-of-age story that moves through the Iranian Revolution and exile, told in sharp, ironic, and deeply moving black and white, speaking to anyone who has had to find their own voice against history.

Marjane Satrapi, who passed away on June 4, 2026, leaves behind a legacy that changed the way identity, memory, and freedom are told through images. With this screening, the Imaginaria festival wishes to remember her and thank her for the vision she gave us.

PERSEPOLIS
Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud

Persepolis tells twenty years of history through the eyes of a young Iranian girl who grows up, changes, understands, and discovers the history of her own family and country as the people rise up against the Shah, witnessing a revolution and then a war, suffering, emigrating, returning to Iran under the ayatollahs as a teenager, and then fleeing again, this time to France, where she becomes a great illustrator. Marjane Satrapi translates her graphic autobiography into refined black-and-white animation, recounting with disenchanted irony her journey from childhood to adulthood and her search for freedom.

IMAGINARIA SPECIAL CLOSING EVENTS
Monastery of San Benedetto (Romanesque cloister) | 9:30 PM – 12:00 AM | Free admission

In the charming “Garden of Lemons,” the festival welcomes its guests, the team, and all participants with an evening of conviviality and good music.

9:00 PM – DJ set – Alberto Totire and Giando Ostuni on the decks
During the evening, a drinks and wine station will be set up by L’Oblio (Corso Umberto 136)

10:00 PM Opening Act – LOSTATOBRADO
Opening live performance featuring experimental electronic music they define as “post-agricultural”: a powerful and imaginative blend that moves between electronics, experimentation, and singer-songwriter music, interwoven with cinematic influences and sampling.

11:00 PM – Concert by AKA5HA
There are artists who build the sound of others for years, until the sound becomes their voice. AKA5HA is one of them. An electronic singer-songwriter where no single element dominates: voice, samples, synthesizers, and acoustic instruments are transformed together.
AKA5HA closes the 24th edition of Imaginaria with an evening open to all—an end-of-festival party where music isn’t just background music, but the closing act. The perfect way to say goodbye.

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IMAGINARIA EXHIBITION
Diocesan Art Gallery – Church of St. Clare
August 17–24 – hours: 6:00 PM–11:00 PM | Free admission
“Deux Lumières” – two-person exhibition by Jean Mallard and Clément Thoby
Curated by Federico Cano Correa (Caracol Gallery – Turin)

SPECIAL CLOSING EVENT
Cathedral Square | 10:00 PM
ANA CARLA MAZA in Concert
The 24th edition of Imaginaria concludes with the presentation of Cuban-born artist Ana Carla Maza. On Sunday, August 23, in the square outside the Cathedral Square of Conversano, she will perform with a trio, bringing us, with her voice and cello, the sounds and atmospheres of her homeland. With more than 400 concerts across 25 countries, Ana Carla Maza has captivated audiences on some of the world’s most prestigious stages: Jazz à Vienne, EFG London Jazz Festival, Blue Note Milano, Jazz à la Villette, Wiener Konzerthaus, and many others—confirming her position as one of the most original and prolific voices on the international scene today.