Monstra Festival 2026
Cutting through the post winter woes and projecting a bit of sunshine in our lives is Monstra Festival, which took place between the 15-22 March 2026. Forget Paris in the spring when you can get to Lisbon to take in this charming event at the perfect time of year. Celebrating 25 years Monstra is Portugals biggest animation event, stretching across the calendar the festival showcases the best international animation primarily from the picturesque Sao Jose cinema, but at other venues across the city.
Like you’d expect from a festival of this stature Monstra boasts an international screening competition and a diary packed full of visitors from around the world. Highlights from my own flying visit included a visit from Amid Amidi, celebrating multiple anniversaries including the 65th anniversary of Surogat by Dušan Vukotić – the first non-american film to win the academy award for animated short. Expert in Cartoon Modern, and the person who coined the phrase, Amidi delivered a barnstorming lecture highlighting the eras superstars and explaining it’s construction and highlighting principles of the form, leading to an elongated Q&A with the enthusiastic audience. Complimenting Amidi’s cartoon modern lecture was a screening of select films from the era which provided an excellent chance to see some fantastically restored versions of films such as Gerald McBoing Boing, a whirlwind of creativity showing off a rich era in cartoon productions history the films on the whole have aged remarkably well, with only the Disney offering screening some unfortunate stereotypes, ironic given the studios modern risk averse nature.
Cartoon Modern fans would be wise to visit the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes to indulge in the personal archive of Vasco Granja (1925 – 2009), a cultural promotor responsible for sharing world animation with Portuguese audiences. Spread across the walls of the institute are animation cels, sketches, letters and paraphernalia giving us a glimpse of the life Granja led, the friends he made and the incredible collection of artwork he acquired. The work of Richard Williams, Bruno Bozetta, Norman McLaren, Rene Laloux, Halas & Batchelor and Raul Servais all adorn the walls creating a remarkable opportunity to see these titans all together in the same place.
Latvia are the country of focus at this years event, adding to the packed programme. Latvian loveliness arrived in the form of Gints Zilbanonis Away and a workshop and retrospective of Vladimir Leschiov, who also designed the festivals 2026 ident. Accompanied by long time musical collaborator Pierre-Yves Drapeau Leschiov films back to back made for excellent viewing, demonstrating the directors variety of styles, techniques and comedic methods, from Grandads Honey, through Insomnia and Villa Antropoff, apart you’d be forgiven for imagining different directors (and there are some collaborations with Kaspar Jancis) but together common stylistic or thematic threads appear.
A quick trip across town to the Marionette Museum provides a supplementary boost for Latvian animation fans as the work of Animācijas Brigāde is on display. Taking over a huge room, the exhibition mostly forgoes glass cabinets to display the puppets almost although they are mid shot, with the animators gone for a lunch-break.
As it stretches across 11 days Monstra is very much an afternoon festival, don’t go expecting a programme that starts at 9am, but it’s a festival that puts quality above quantity and the mornings gave me a good chance to take in the sights of Lisbon. Though my visit was a mere three days which included travel, I was immensely impressed by the curation of this event which was put together by a clearly dedicated team, my only complaint would be that I couldn’t stay for longer. If you are looking for a great festival in a great town and are looking to beat the winter blues then head to Monstra in Lisbon next year. Obrigado Monstra!
Monstra Returns 11 – 21 March 2027