ANIMAGE, Brazil’s Leading Animation Festival, to Host International Market in November
Skwigly
Festival ANIMAGE Mostra Parque. Photo by Hannah Carvalho
ANIMAGE International Animation Festival of Pernambuco will hold its largest edition to date in 2026. From November 20 to 29, the event will celebrate its 16th anniversary by extending its duration to ten days, launching ANIMAGE Conecta, its international animation market, and debuting its first Feature Film Competition, which will now be part of the program alongside the traditional short film competition. Submissions are free and open until June 30 via the FilmFreeway.com/ANIMAGEFestival platform, with awards spanning 11 categories.
Held in Recife, a city now famous as the filming location for Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Oscar-nominated film The Secret Agent, the festival takes place at various venues throughout the city, from movie theaters to public squares, with the historic Cinema São Luiz serving as its main venue.
The launch of ANIMAGE Conecta marks a watershed moment for the festival, establishing a professional space dedicated to fostering new talent, training, networking, and business growth. The program runs from November 20 to 23 and includes workshops, pitch sessions, meetups, conferences, masterclasses, debates, panels, roundtables, and interviews, many of which will be streamed online. The new market strengthens ANIMAGE’s ties with the animation ecosystem in Brazil and abroad, fostering connections among artists, studios, production companies, and industry players from around the world. National and international guests will be announced shortly.
ANIMAGE Conecta was created to strengthen international collaboration and create new opportunities for animation professionals from Brazil and around the world.
Antonio Gutierrez, known as Gutie, director and founder of ANIMAGE
The 2026 Competitive Screenings will include recent national and international short and feature-length films chosen by the festival’s curatorial team, with prizes totaling R$ 32,000 distributed across categories such as Best Short Film, Best Feature Film, Best Brazilian Short Film, and Best Children’s Short Film, as well as the ANIMAGE Trophy awarded in other technical and artistic categories. The list of films chosen for the competition will be revealed on July 30.
The special screenings of short and feature films, in turn, include retrospectives, themed screenings, and unreleased works. The Parque Screening brings outdoor short film screenings to the outskirts of the city, reinforcing the festival’s educational and inclusive mission, while online screenings broaden the program’s national reach. All festival activities, including screenings and market events, remain free of charge.
Founded in 2008, ANIMAGE is Brazil’s leading animation festival and one of the most important in Latin America. The festival is known for its variety, support for unique productions, and use of different styles and techniques, making ANIMAGE an important place for experimental and independent films, well-respected works, and new talents in the industry. Over the years, it has hosted prominent figures in the global animation scene, such as Emma de Swaeff and Marc Roels, Alê Abreu, Bruno Collet, Kaspar Jancis, Rosana Urbes, Andrea Martignoni, Phill Mulloy, Regina Pessoa, Jonatan Schwenk, Sébastien Laudenbach, and many others.
The ANIMAGE Festival 2026 is sponsored by Petrobras, conceived and produced by Rec-Beat Produções and Leão Produções, and presented by the Ministry of Culture and the Federal Government of Brazil through the Federal Culture Incentive Law.