Cinanima Turns 50 in Espinho From Friday With 167 Competition Films, Coffee-Foam Animation and an Orchestra Playing The Snowman
Espinho's animation festival opens its 50th edition on 6 November and runs to 22 November: 167 competition films from about 2,400 entries, a poster exhibition, family sessions and an 8 euro orchestra concert. Here are the key dates, the 60 euro pass and how to get there.
Cinanima, the international animation film festival held every autumn in Espinho, opens its 50th edition on Friday 6 November and runs until Sunday 22 November. Its programmers picked 167 films for competition from about 2,400 entries, and a parallel programme adds another 226 works shown in schools, universities, neighbourhoods and other venues across the Porto area, Lusa reported via Notícias ao Minuto on Sunday.
For residents in the North, it means two and a half weeks of animated film in a seaside town just south of Porto, with family sessions at weekends, an orchestra concert and a festival pass for those who want to see the lot.
Coffee foam, tiles and embroidery
André Ramada, one of the festival's programmers, told Lusa that half a century on, the entries still surprise the organisers. This year's competition includes films made entirely from coffee foam, painted on azulejos (the glazed ceramic tiles seen on Portuguese façades) and embroidered by hand. He said the recurring themes of past trauma, nostalgia and fear for the future are now more often treated as comedy than with pessimism.
The anniversary edition, under the motto "O Sonho Comanda a Vida" ("The dream rules life", a line from the poet António Gedeão), honours João Machado, the designer behind the festival's posters, with an exhibition of 50 of them. Festival director Henrique Neves told Lusa there will also be a retrospective of films that shaped Cinanima, a series of five talks with people from each of its five decades, and a virtual reality work, "Lúcido", by the artist Vier.
Key dates
- Friday 6 November: the poster exhibition opens at 20:30 in the gallery of the Centro Multimeios de Espinho, followed by the opening ceremony at 21:30, according to the festival's programme.
- Weekends from 7 November: family sessions at 15:00 in the Centro Multimeios on 7, 8 and 15 November, with the "50 Years of Cinanima" retrospective sessions shown at 16:00 on the same days.
- 14 and 15 November, 18:00: the Orquestra Clássica de Espinho plays live to the animated films "Peter and the Wolf" and "The Snowman" at the Auditório de Espinho. Tickets cost 8 euros, according to the auditorium (ages 6 and over).
- 16 to 20 November: the international competition screenings of shorts and features, in the Centro Multimeios.
- Saturday 21 November, 21:00: closing ceremony and awards.
The festival's own site describes it as a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards: the winner of its Grand Prize for short films goes on the list of possible nominees for the Oscar for best animated short.
What it means for you
Most screenings are at the Centro Multimeios de Espinho on Avenida 24, n.º 800, with other events at the Auditório de Espinho, the FACE arts centre, the Casino auditorium and the municipal library. Espinho is on the railway line between Porto and Aveiro.
A general festival pass costs 60 euros, or 30 euros for students. It covers competitive and non-competitive sessions, masterclasses, family sessions, retrospectives and exhibitions, but not the opening and closing ceremonies. It is paid by bank transfer, with the receipt emailed to the festival. Prices for single sessions in 2026 were not yet confirmed on the festival's ticketing page when we checked, so ask at the box office in the Centro Multimeios or check the site before you go.
If you buy tickets for the orchestra concert, asking for an invoice with your tax number may help at tax time: see our explainer on which culture purchases count towards the IRS deduction. More from the region in The Porto Brief.
