La Grotta Dei Piccoli is born as part of the 2016 edition of La Guarimba International Film Festival, as an entirely child friendly zone with the intent of showing otherwise unknown films to new generations.
It’s a safe, friendly space that is entertaining and innovative.
Since 2017, the competition takes place within the festival in collaboration with UNICEF Italy, including 40 competing international short films.
In 2018 the synergy between Unicef Italia and La Guarimba was confirmed, and the selection was extended to 60 competing international short films.
In addition to the screenings, during the days of the festival we offer illustration, animation and happiness workshops.
We understand children’s and young people’s hunger for cultural innovation during these sensitive life stages and we want to accompany them in this new and necessary path, capable of developing creativity and discovering new fantasies, with a fundamental educational tool of social development.
To this day we suffer from the social divide that exists between the different Italian regions, and our goal is to give cultural dignity to the territory, where there is no healthy entertainment for children, cultural houses or libraries, places that have always been a symbol of social gathering and knowledge, so it is even more important for us to make culture accessible, paying particular attention to those who need it most.
At the entrance to Parco Della Grotta, parents will find qualified staff to entrust their children to. They will enjoy the cinema in complete safety, in a small festival designed just for them.
The shorts are projected in parallel with the official festival competition, in a space adjacent to the main screen.
We have created an area that is attentive to children’s freedom of movement, without neglecting the safety of the space.
Giant poufs offer the chance to enjoy cinema in an informal and playful environment, while the screen, speakers and professional projector offer both visual and auditory quality and safety.
Throughout the projection time, experienced staff will watch over the children, leaving them free but never alone.
Alex Spagnolo, from Calabria, is the artistic director of this project inside La Guarimba.
“As a native from Calabria, this is the initiative that I have always sought during my educational path but never, unfortunately, found.
Thus, the desire to be part of the solution was born, offering an alternative to the usual channels of consumption of audio-visual content.
The selected works have the objective of respecting the children and challenging them with sensitive themes and new narrative techniques, necessary for the development of creativity and critical sense, by still leaving them free to play and imagine “.
Sara Fratini and Mikel Murillo are the curators of the children’s workshops.
Sara Fratini is a Venezuelan illustrator and muralist, co-founder of La Guarimba. She has published La Buena Vida and Una Tal Martina with Random House Mondadori in Spain, No te Calles with Random House Mexico, and several fanzines. Her walls are located in different European cities. She has participated in European non-formal educational projects to investigate the role of women in society.
Mikel Murillo is a Spanish cartoonist and illustrator, creator of all the graphic identity of La Guarimba. He has published several books, fanzines and advertising campaigns.
A fundamental part of the project is represented by the workshops which, starting from a non-formal educational path have the objective of showing the beauty of art to both adults and children. All is found within an open and collaborative context where we attempt to transmit values of participatory democracy, integration and accessibility.
Every year, La Guarimba goes around the world with screenings, exhibitions, murals, workshops, socio-cultural and political conferences. One of the projects on tour is La Grotta dei Piccoli, below you can find past dates.
La Guarimba En Málaga – Málaga, Spain 24 NOVEMBER / 03 DECEMBER 2016
Animated Outskirts – Bari (Ba), Italy 13/15 OCTOBER 2017
Certamen Internacional de Cortos Ciudad de Soria – Soria, Spain – 12/26 NOVEMBER 2017
If you want to organize an event in your school, institute, festival or private event, write to us at alex@laguarimba.com
