Cartoon Club

The Cartoon Club Festival offers a rich program that explores all the languages of animation and contemporary visual culture, providing a variety of events for every kind of audience.

Animation Cinema

The festival presents about 150 short films from around the world, divided into competitive and non-competitive sections. These films address current themes with a unique style and great sensitivity. Awards are given by different juries – professional, popular, and children’s – each with specific recognitions.

Animation Awards:

• Cartoon Club Award: for the best films by professional authors;
• Signor Rossi Award: for short films created by animation schools;
• Cartoon Kids Award: awarded by children aged 5 to 11;
• Cartoon Junior Award: for films made in workshops with children;
• Cartoon Club Environmental Award: for works addressing ecological challenges.
• Audience Award: The spectators’ jury selects its own winners from among the finalists of the Cartoon Club Award and the Signor Rossi Award.

Feature Films and Special Events

The festival includes screenings of internationally significant animated feature films, with special events, meetings with directors, concerts, and award ceremonies.

Exhibitions

The exhibition program features displays on iconic characters, famous authors, and specific themes from the worlds of animation and comics, set up in museums and major cultural venues in Rimini.

Comics and Illustration

In addition to the animation section, the festival hosts exhibitions, previews, and meetings with comic and illustration artists. It also presents two awards dedicated to comic literature:

• Franco Fossati Award: dedicated to essays and studies on comics;
• Fede a Strisce – Famiglia Ramberti Award: reserved for works that combine comics and religious values.

Education

The festival offers workshops, masterclasses for enthusiasts and students, and laboratories for schools and children, using animation and comics as educational tools.

Professional Meetings

Spaces for dialogue among professionals are organized to support the production and distribution of animation, exploring new production models and markets.

Cartoon Club On the Road

Throughout the year, the festival extends to the city’s outskirts where cinemas no longer exist, bringing free screenings and creative activities to bring animated cinema closer to the local audience.

RiminiComix and the Pop Area

Within the Festival, RiminiComix transforms Piazzale Federico Fellini into a large fair for comics, merchandising, collectibles, and geek culture items.

Pop Culture is celebrated with:

• Spectacular cosplay competitions featuring enthusiasts from all over Italy;
• Meetings with voice actors, authors, illustrators, and key figures from the animation world;
• Areas dedicated to video games and board games for gaming and collecting fans;
• Live concerts that enliven the festival evenings;
• Japan and K-Pop events, featuring performances and workshops;
• Self Area;

Beach events

Featuring open activities including screenings, meet & greets, live performances with artists, and workshops for children.

Cartoon Club is not just about fun but also social commitment: each edition tackles current issues such as disability, human rights, and the environment. Always evolving, the Festival combines tradition and technological innovation, staying up to date with the times.