In collaboration with UNICEF Italia, la Grotta dei Piccoli is a unique and magical cinema experience as well as a meeting point between art and our younger audience. Located in the idyllic natural cave inside La Grotta Park in Amantea, our mission is to promote and expose the youth to different approaches of storytelling within Animation.

For this reason, our program is richer than ever. This year, we are delighted to include 100 animated short films from all over the world which have been carefully selected in order to bring out only the very best.

With La Grotta dei Piccoli we want to celebrate Animation, we want to create an opportunity to connect, share stories, and encourage creativity in the younger generations. The short films that we have chosen for you this year range from whimsical unknown worlds to realities that are closer to our everyday life.

From the charm of walking trees and wild animals starting a concert, all the way to the despair of refugee families forced to flee in search of a better future. Our films honour friendship, love, equality but also tackle crucial themes such as internal struggles, forgiveness, destruction of nature.

We believe that filmmaking can really make a difference and we are happy to be able to offer a selection that explores an array of themes and techniques, not only to entertain but also to challenge and inspire the citizens of tomorrow.

Curated by: Valeria Weerasinghe

#LaGuarimba2020

CAMBUR SELECTION

OM NOM NOM

Minato Matsuda, Haruna Ueno & Tomoko Taiga | 2019 | 3′ | Japan

One day, a hungry dinosaur came across a weird jumping egg in the forest.

WHY SLUGS HAVE NO LEGS

Aline Höchli | 2019 | 11′ | Switzerland

Slugs have a hard time keeping up with the pace of life in the city of insects. When a financial crisis hits, the industrious bees only see one solution.

WHERE DO BABIES COME FROM?

Valerie Chang | 2018 | 2′ | Netherlands

A question parents rather not answer. Lets respond as vague as possible and let the imagination do the rest!

OVERFLOW

Jocelyn Chang | 2019 | 4′ | Canada

Riley desperately wants to help his friends that live in the ocean, but massive piles of swirling trash endlessly arrive.

STRANGE CREATURES

Cristina Sitja & Cristóbal León | 2019 | 15′ | Chile

After a party in the forest, the animals head back to their homes and they encounter a desolate landscape. Strange Creatures have stolen their homes, so the animals decide to go in search of them.

MAESTRO

ILLOGIC | 2019 | 2′ | France

Deep into a forest, a gathering of wild animals start a nocturnal opera, conducted by a squirrel.

THE QUIET

Radheya Jegatheva | 2019 | 10′ | Australia

When an astronaut ponders on the quietude of space, he comes upon a startling self-realisation.

RED HANDS

Francesco Filippi | 2018 | 30′ | Italy

Ernest one day discovers some wonderful red wall drawings made by Moon, a mysterious girl who has the magic power to produce a vivid red color from her hands.

NIGEL

Natasza Cetner | 2019 | 9′ | UK

The story of a bird that fell in love with a concrete statue.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Karni & Soul | 2019 | 3′ | UK

A duvet dwellers live in a secret soft blanket cave in a kids room.

DINOSAURS IN LOVE

Hannah Jacobs, Katy Wang & Anna Ginsburg | 2020 | 1′ | UK

Music video for the viral song sensation by 3 year old Fenn Rosenthal feat Tom Rosenthal. The entire video was made using 2D frame by frame animation in just 24 hours!

BLUE AND CURT

Jesse Cote | 2019 | 1′ | Canada

A stubborn little monster named Curt receives some advice from a clever little bird named Blue.

LAUGH LINES

Patricia Wenger | 2018 | 6′ | Switzerland

The movie tells eight short stories about friendship.

HUNGRY

Yaou Chen | 2019 | 3′ | USA

A film about a T-rex, who is starving in the desert and looking for food. It is a film about his adventure with meeting with other wild animals.

DAUGHTER

Daria Kashcheeva | 2019 | 15′ | Czech Republic

Should you hide your pain? Close yourself inside your inner world, full of longing for your father’s love and its displays? Or should you understand and forgive before it is too late?

BALANCE

Timothée Crabbé | 2019 | 7′ | Belgium

Partners on stage and in life, acrobats Alec and Theo find each other in a perfect balance until is turned upside down by an accident.

KIDS

Michael Frei | 2019 | 9′ | Switzerland

An animated short exploring group dynamics. How do we define ourselves when we are all equal?

INTERMISSION EXPEDITION

Wiep Teeuwisse | 2019 | 8′ | Netherlands

Once they learn to slow down, they may find some beauty in the here and now.

LETTING GO

Cécile Brun | 2019 | 7′ | Switzerland

“Lah gah” lets us dive into sunny childhood memories, when a girl is singing and cooking with her father.

BOILERMAKER

Risto Kütt | 2018 | 4′ | Estonia

A barmaid who’s not impressed by the size of whiskey and beer glasses, tries out new ways of how to mix a perfect Boilermaker.

TO THE STARS

Antonello Piccione | 2019 | 8′ | Italy

Ahmed, a little syrian child and his parents escape from the horrors of the war to seek a better life. Based on a true story.

TEDDY BEAR RESCUE

Louis Bodart | 2019 | 3′ | Canada

A boy goes on an adventure to find his teddy bear stolen by a monster under his bed.

WINTER

Guodong Yu | 2019 | 8′ | China

In the cold northeast China, people lived by hunting for generations. A little boy born in a hunter family seemed to have a mysterious connection with the forest.

MY LITTLE BOYS - COUCH

Jack Shih | 2018 | 4′ | Taiwan

The little boy plans a secret space exploration along with his dog Donnie.

ARCH-RIVAL

Liu Qiang | 2019 | 5′ | China

On War with Yourself. There is no dialogue in the film. Anyone can understand it.

MOVEMENTS

Dahee Jeong | 2019 | 10′ | Republic of Korea

We are all walking, seeing, working, running, and stopping together.

EPIRENOV

Alejandro Ariel Martin | 2019 | 15′ | Argentina

Epirenov is the last inhabitant on Earth. He monotonously walks around the empty desert in search of pieces necessary to build a partner.

VARDAVAR

Anja Shu | 2019 | 1′ | Armenia / Urkaine

The journey of the imagination of childhood in a road movie populated by extraordinary créatures.

HANSEL AND GRETEL

Shaun Clark & Magid El-Bushra | 2019 | 6′ | UK

Hansel and Gretel’s parents have fallen on hard times. Their mother Gertrud sends them out into the forest to find strawberries for supper, little realising that it is a dangerous place after dark.

ANANSI

Elliot Gibson | 2018 | 4′ | Australia

Potion master, Anansi, is a man of many faces. Which face will he show an innocent boy in search of a potion for his sick father?

THE STORY

David Sancho Novellón | 2019 | 2′ | Spain

‘What happens when children produce their own cartoons?’

AND YET WE'RE NOT SUPER HEROES

Lia Bertels | 2019 | 12′ | Belgium / Portugal

Carried by the voices of little philosophers, the film depicts the journey of the imagination of childhood populated by extraordinary creatures.

GO! GO!

Patradol Kitcharoen | 2019 | 5′ | USA

Aaron the alligator, who lives his entire life in a tank in an animal theme park, is fascinated by the fireworks that are displayed in the park every night. One day, he accidentally gets loose and makes his way into the park looking for the fireworks.

LITTLE GREY WOLFY. SUMMER PARTY

Natalia Malykhina | 2019 | 7′ | Norway

Little Grey Wolfy is dreaming about a real birthday cake with candles and cream for his birthday party.

ALMOST THERE

Nelly Michenaud | 2019 | 9′ | UK

On an train journey without stops or destination, an observer goes to extreme lengths to avoid other passengers.

H20

Fathima Shanaz | 2018 | 7′ | Sri Lanka

The struggle humans must go through due to the destruction of the nature and the deforestation.

HUGO & HOLGER

Teddy Halkier Kristiansen | 2019 | 14′ | Denmark

The boy Hugo’s biggest wish is to own a dog.

MONSTERS WALKING

Diego Porral Soldevilla | 2018 | 1′ | Spain

“Monsters Walking” is a short film about monsters that walk.

THEM

Amélie Cochet & Louis Möhrle | 2019 | 6′ | Switzerland

While the different character follow their everyday routines, trash slowly begins to pile up in the courtyard.

LADDER TO YOU

Victoria Watson & Chris Watson | 2018 | 4′ | UK

Old Eric is tired of life without his dear wife, Elsie, but in his darkest moment she shows him that true love never dies.

PETRICHOR

Shirin Shakhesi | 2019 | 2′ | Australia

Petrichor traces a short journey about insects and animal’s population decline that affects ecosystems and humanity which would leave only a memory of them for us in the near future.

ARTHUR AND THE SEAGULL

Luca Di Cecca | 2019 | 5′ | Italy

The ninety-year-old Arturo is used to being alone and his days pass as a pensioner. One day a newspaper that advertises cameras comes into his hands. The seagull that he chose as a subject, however, seems to have a completely different idea about perfect photography.

GRAND ADVENTURE RAILROAD

Hsiao-Shan Huang | 2019 | 15′ | Taiwan

When a luxurious family touring train halts in a pitch black tunnel, an uninvited creature sneaks on board…

WASHING MACHINE

Alexandra Májová | 2020 | 5′ | Czech Republic

Wash and love.

PSYCHOPHONIC

Aline Romero | 2019 | 6′ | Spain

During a full moon night, a cat is trapped inside a spooky house where a gramophone is playing. The cat will discover a secret while trying to escape and run for his life.

CUBOT

Michele Annibali | 2020 | 7′ | Italy

Cubot is a robot of which we know nothing about, neither where it comes from, nor why it is here. We can only observe it while it experiences and develops skills.

MIMI SAYS NO

Yih-Fen Chou | 2019 | 5′ | Taiwan

Mimi’s mother wants to help Mimi navigate various life situations, but Mimi insists on doing everything herself.

METRO6

Geoff Hecht | 2020 | 8′ | USA

During a bus ride, Zak goes through a deeply personal metamorphosis and comes to realize the true value of human interaction.

LOST & FOUND

Andrew Goldsmith & Bradley Slabe | 2018 | 8′ | Australia

A clumsy crochet dinosaur must completely unravel itself to save the love of its life.

ESCAPE VELOCITY

Tamás Rebák | 2019 | 8′ | Hungary

An astronaut awakens in an abandoned cave of a strange planet. He has been chased by a creature for a long time, and his only way to break free is to escape this curious planet.

MASHA AND THE BEAR

Vladislav Bayramgulov | 2018 | 7′ | Russia

The show follows the adventures of a little girl Masha and her friend, The Bear. Their friendship is a metaphor of how a child explores the world around and her adult friend supports and cares about her in that journey.

MARGIN OF TERROR

Kieran McLister | 2020 | 4′ | UK

A short stop-motion comedy about a mad scientist driven to create the most horrific, terrifying giant monster ever seen – no matter how many attempts it takes.

REVEN OG NISSEN

Yaprak Morali & Are Austnes | 2019 | 4′ | Norway

A hungry fox sneaks into a small farm unaware of the Tomten who guards it. The Tomten decides to share his Christmas porridge with him. But can an outcast fox trust anyone other than himself?

SHATTERED IDENTITY

Fabian Lang | 2020 | 6′ | Austria

In a world not unlike ours, Noemè is being ripped of her identity and pushed to the margins of society. Along with one like her, she’s on the escape from the crushing forces of a city that is no longer hers.

MY LIFE IN VERSAILLES

Clémence Madeleine Perdrillat & Nathaniel H’Limi | 2019 | 29′ | France

Violette is an eight-year-old Parisian girl loses her parents. From now on, Violette will live with her uncle Régis, a maintenance worker at the Palace of Versailles.

LITTLE BIG BEAR

Sarah Schulz | 2018 | 5′ | Germany

The Bear is the king of his picture book—until, suddenly, his world is upside down! He finds himself tumbling through the pages, and finally lands in an unknown book…

TOBI AND THE TURBOBUS

Verena Fels & Marc Angele  | 2019 | 7′ | Germany

You fly with no seat! That’s the rule in the Turbobus. To get one is a hard day job for a young wolf on his turbo-journey to find real friendship.

STORY

Jolanta Bańkowska | 2019 | 5′ | Poland

‘Story’ is a reflection of modern men in an age of omnipresent technology. Looking through stories, we see people who are lonely, lost or already indifferent about the reality surrounding them.

WALTER

Lorenzo Fresta | 2019 | 7′ | USA

A lonely toad rides his bike around the desert, looking for something.

KIRI AND LOU - YUM YUM BARONIES

Harry Sinclair | 2019 | 5′ | New Zealand

Kiri, a feisty little dinosaur and Lou, a gentle and thoughtful creature, explore the world of feelings through laughter, song and adventure in their forest home.

PAPER KITE

Assia Kovanova | 2019 | 8′ | Bulgaria

А sheet of paper, a math problem, a kite and two children who will find the answer.

BLIND DATE

Camiel Schouwenaar | 2019 | 2′ | Netherlands

Bodine is looking forward to her first date with Bas. Before he joins her at the table she quickly takes off her thick glasses. What should have been a romantic evening becomes a big disaster.

MR. ANGRY EYE AND THE BUMP

Agnieszka Jurek | 2019 | 2′ | Germany

About the luck to walk into a wall.

I CAN DO IT ON MY OWN

Christoph Brehme | 2019 | 5′ | Italy

Sometimes we try so hard to do something on your own, just to prove to ourselves and maybe to someone else that we can do it, that we forget that it’s much more fun to do it together.

BLACK & WHITE

Jesús Pérez & Gerd Gockell | 2020 | 5′ | Switzerland / Germany

The “black sheep” is bullied by the flock but in spite of everything only she will be able to protect them from danger.

ABE'S STORY

Adam H. Stewart | 2019 | 12′ | Ireland

Set in Victorian London, Abe an overworked Irish writer draws inspiration from his day job in the theater to write a bloody brilliant novel.

AMERIGO AND THE NEW WORLD

Luis Briceño & Laurent Crouzeix | 2019 | 14′ | France / Chile

Who gave America its name? A playful flashback on fake news circa 1492.

MANGI MELI REMAINS

Konradin Kunze | 2019 | 12′ | Germany / Tanzania

In Old Moshi, Tanzania, a head is missing. The head is of Chief Meli who fought the German colonial occupation of territory in Kilimanjaro and was executed as a result in 1900.

DUODROM

Basil Vogt | 2019 | 9′ | Switzerland

We all have two sides. But if even the tiniest scare splits someone into a timid skin on the one hand and an overconfident skeleton on the other, that person has a lot of work ahead to bring their characteristics back into harmony again.

THE WITCH & THE BABY

Evgenia Golubeva | 2020 | 5′ | Russia

An ageing witch needs a baby for a spell to make her young again. But when she brings home an infant princess things don’t go to plan.

CRISS CROSS

Fritz Penzlin & Caroline Hamann | 2020 | 7′ | Germany

Which is stronger, love or borders? An unfortunate chain of events motivates a couple in love to try and defy the obstacles between them.

FISSO

Raito Low Jing Yi | 2018 | 5′ | Malaysia / Taiwan

Break up to make up

CASSIOPEIA

Lucy Hirst | 2019 | 4′ | UK

A young girl who lives in the sky is in charge of looking after the constellation Cassiopeia. When one of the stars goes out she repairs it- only to realise it has become mischievous!

ROBOT WILL PROTECT YOU

Nicola Piovesan | 2018 | 10′ | Estonia

A sci-fi animation about a little girl’s search for meaning in a world without emotions.

IN PASSING

Esther Cheung | 2019 | 4′ | Canada

A portrait of seventies Hong Kong as the parents of the artist remember it.

BLIESCHOW

Christoph Sarow | 2019 | 10′ | Germany

Vast plains, colorful sceneries, a red dog, that seems to reach into the sky. This is how Tom experiences summer in Blieschow, his grandfather’s farm.

AT FIRST SIGHT

Sjaak Rood | 2019 | 16′ | Netherlands

A man and a woman drive straight towards one another. They hit the breaks just in time and come to a standstill, facing each other. They’re both too stubborn to give way to the other.

INANIMATE

Lucia Bulgheroni | 2018 | 9′ | Italy / UK

Katrine has a normal life, a normal job, a normal boyfriend and a normal apartment in a normal city. Or at least thats what she thinks, until one day everything starts falling apart – literally!

APFELMUS

Alexander Gratzer | 2019 | 7′ | Austria

While two birds talk about their existence, a small apple makes its way into the depths of a cave under watchful eyes.

PLAYING AT THE SEA

Sacha Brauner | 2019 | 7′ | Belgium

A window onto the closed world of an undetermined beach somewhere by the North Sea.

A HOLE

Molly Murphy | 2020 | 9′ | USA

The world is about to be swallowed by a black hole.

UNDER THE CANOPY

Bastien Dupriez | 2019 | 7′ | France

Birds-of-paradise, adorned with their most beautiful plumage, bring us to their forest suddenly disrupted by human disorder.

DREAMS INTO DRAWING

Koji Yamamura | 2019 | 10′ | Japan

The painter Kuwagata Keisai lived over 200 years ago.

CATNAP

Alivia Horsley | 2019 | 7′ | USA

A cat struggles to deal with the loss of her tail, and finds self acceptance along the way.

FIRE AND WATER

Robert Brown | 2019 | 2′ | UK

Opposites attract but the path to true love is never plain sailing.

MISS MBULU

Ben Fernández | 2019 | 14′ | Spain

Two employees are testing a camera purchased from an antique dealer. In parallel, Cloe, a false medium who conducts séances on the floor above, is being warned of a danger from the afterlife.

IRMA

Lisa Cruz | 2020 | 5′ | UK / France

In the calm before the storm, a little girl is excited to meet the mysterious ‘Irma’ everyone is talking about.

SEASON

Giovanna Lopalco | 2019 | 8′ | France

A cortege of men dressed in white are walking a young woman to a strange procession.

NAPO

Gustavo Ribeiro | 2020 | 16′ | Brazil

John stumbles into an old album full of photographs and then let the images guide his imagination, transforming his grandpa’s memories into drawing interpretations.

SONG SPARROW

Farzaneh Omidvarnia | 2019 | 12′ | Denmark / Iran

A Group of refugees tries to reach themselves to a safe country in search for a better life. They pay a smuggler to convey them across the boarders in a fridge truck. However, the freezing temperature of the truck turns their hopes for a better future into a fierce struggle for survival.

TUNA

Cliona Noonan | 2019 | 6′ | Ireland

A late-night supermarket cashier with a strange obsession is visited by a mysterious customer.

MUSH-MUSH AND THE MUSHABLES

Joeri Christiaen | 2019 | 12′ | Belgium / France

Mush-Mush & the Mushables follows the comedy adventures of the Mushable community.

THE MILKSHAKE BAR

Urtė Oettinger | 2020 | 13′ | Lithuania

Every day after school Mikas meets his best friends Sonata the squirrel and Gabriel the cat at the Milkshake Bar.

BEYOND BORDERS

Isha Mangalmurti | 2019 | 5′ | India

Beyond Borders is a short animated documentary narrating the story of Dr. Alan Pereira, a humanitarian doctor from India.

THE OPPOSITES GAME

Anna Samo & Lisa LaBracio | 2019 | 5′ | USA

A classroom erupts into a war of words as students grapple with a seemingly simple prompt: what is the opposite of a gun?

RULES OF PLAY

Merlin Flügel | 2018 | 8′ | Germany

A group of tired playground visitors meet at night for a last contest.

OSIRIKA - BLACK CHAMPAGNE

Jeremiah Williams | 2019 | 5′ | USA / Indonesia

La sacerdotessa Queen Suraya e il sacerdote King Jamari sono i leader del magico Nemanyo.

LINT

Lisa O’Sullivan | 2018 | 3′ | Ireland

Exploring the strange limbo state we experience in the aftermath of a break up, Lint follows one person’s bizarre attempt at regaining some sense of normality.

GRAVEDAD

Matisse Gonzalez | 2019 | 10′ | Germany / Bolivia

In a world where gravity changes constantly, you have to find something to keep you grounded.

POSTPARTUM

Henriette Rietz | 2020 | 5′ | Germany

The chaotic phase in life of a new mother.