Animatica animation festival concludes with record attendance in Saronno

The fourth edition of Animatica, a short animation film festival held at Casa Morandi in Saronno, concluded with record attendance of over 400 participants. Organized by the cultural association Il Tassello with support from the Municipality of Saronno, the event featured 199 short films from around the world.

A technical jury selected 13 finalists from the global submissions, after which the audience cast over 300 votes to determine the winner. The 2026 Animatica Prize for Best Animated Short Film was awarded to ‘Son’, directed by Kazakh filmmaker Zhanna Bekmambetova. The winning film was noted for its delicate storytelling involving a child in the steppe and an old television.

Other notable entries included works by Raphaël Baget and Dino Mujic. The festival also included workshops, live soundtracks, and a children's section called Minimatica, which awarded the short ‘The Witch and the Frog’.