Every summer La Grotta dei Piccoli welcomes many curious children and teens, ready to immerse themselves into the depths of the animation world. What they witness are the stories, experiences and feelings of real or made up characters that come from all over the world. The wonder that we see in their eyes is captivating and we are grateful to be able to encourage their imagination whilst exposing them to many different forms of storytelling.

In this years’ selection, we have films that talk about identity, about roots and imaginary worlds as well as the selection of environmental shorts, inspired by our sustainability project, Cambur.

It is a pleasure to see La Grotta dei Piccoli growing and becoming stronger year after year with a quality of short films that reflects the very best of the international animation scene.

This is also why, for the second year, we have decided to show more films by dedicating our space to the little ones in the first part of the screening and to a teen audience in the second part each evening.

Lastly, what will make it extra special this year is the intention of creating a jury of children and teenagers that will participate in every screening, discuss their preferred films during the afternoon workshops and announce the winner of La Grotta dei Piccoli on the last evening.

Curated by: Valeria Weerasinghe

#LaGuarimba2022

CAMBUR SELECTION

COOL FOR YOU

Sherene Strausberg | 2021 | 3′ | United States

Based on the book of the same title, explains global warming to children in a friendly way.

HUMANATEE

Sea Jin Park | 2021 | 3′ | South Korea

Jellyfish find out that reckless boat drivers in Florida cause the manatees’ injuries.

LITTLE BOY LITTER

Jack Mchugh & Conor McNally | 2021 | 6′ | Ireland

Propelled by a Candy Stick sugar rush, Little Boy Litter pedals and pilfers his way around the countryside in search of treasure among the trash.

MONKEY DOMINO

Ulf Grenzer  | 2021 | 4′ | Germany

An ape in the zoo is reminiscing about his life in the jungle.

THE SECRET OF MISTER NOSTOC

Seiler Patrice & Marion Maxime | 2021 | 11′ | France

In a city where everyone is stressed, Mr. Nostoc, not pressed by time, goes everyday at work with a new surprise under his hat.

WHATEVERTREE

Isaac King | 2020 | 11′ | Canada

A dead tree goes viral, attracting wildlife, a nature lover, and a crowd of online followers.

7 LBS 8 OZ

Yoo Lee | 2021 | 7′ | United States

When a young mother moves into 8th street, Jersey City, NJ, she learns about the value of the community and how her own perception determines her own experiences.

A BITE OF BONE

Honami Yano| 2021 | 10′ | Japan

A little girl reflects on her last summer with her father at his funeral.

A GUITAR IN THE BUCKET

Boyoung Kim | 2021 | 15′ | South Korea

In a world where you can rent everything from vending machines, a girl wants to be a guitarist, but people choose otherwise for her.

A PLACE IN BLUE

Seung Eon Yi  | 2022 | 9′ | South Korea

A girl is searching for her mother in a grocery store and in a forest. At the end of the forest, she encounters passages from her mother’s life.

AL TABBAB

Khalifa Al-Mana | 2021 | 8′ | Qatar

A boy and his father perform an ancient offering ritual in order to harvest pearls from a mysterious Sea Monster.

ALL AT SEA

Kasia Nalewajka| 2021 | 9′ | Poland

Cornelius is a happy crab bachelor. While celebrating and drinking with this friend, he will got sick.

BEAR HUG

Margrethe Danielsen | 2021 | 10′ | France

An eager little bear is waiting for his birthday guests to arrive.

BEGHO: A MARKET TOWN IN 16th CENTURY WEST AFRICA

Victoria Aryee & Daniel Kumah | 2021 | 7′ | Ghana

A little girl called Kasi arriving with her uncle from another country, discovers Begho, the former market city.

BIG BOX

Nuria Torreño | 2022 | 7′ | Spain

In a world where it is possible to send your feelings via mail service, a young postman named Hermy faces the arduous task of delivering the biggest package the company has ever seen.

BLACK SLIDE

Uri Lotan | 2021 | 11′ | Israel

A young and timid kid and his best friend sneak into the Black slide, the most terrifying ride in Aqua Fun.

BLOCKS

Adrian Jaffé  | 2022 | 4′ | Germany

A metaphor on how traditional masculinity restricts personal development while growing up.

BLUE CURRY

Magali Dunyach, Chien-Ju Hung, Jimin Jung, Vajra Pancharia & Léa Pietrzyk | 2022 | 6′ | France

When your regular kitchen turns into your biggest classroom… and Mom just serves you a plate of wisdom.

BYE LITTLE BLOCK

Éva Darabos | 2020 | 9′ | Hungary

A young woman learns that soon she will have to move from the blockhouse flat she lives in.

CAT AND MOTH

India Barnardo | 2021 | 7′ | Canada

A fluffy white cat wants nothing more than to find the most comfortable spot in the universe, but little does she know someone else has their eye on it too.

CO-OGNITION

Przemysław Świada | 2022 | 6′ | Poland

The process of personality development employing the visual play with a black line and the free merging of consecutive images.

COFFEE BREAK

Sarah Binz & Viviane Barben | 2021 | 3′ | Switzerland

Charlie is drawn into an inner conflict between curiosity and distrust.

COLD HEART

Raman Djafari | 2022 | 5′ | Germany

Four friends on a surreal disco night-out follow Elton John and Dua Lipa into a fantatical universe.

CONTRETEMPS

Claire Sun, Chloé Maingé, Lise Légier, Laurine Baille & Gabriel Gérard | 2022 | 7′ | France

Living with OCD, Anna has an organized routine. This balance breaks when her sister forgets a piece of instrument.

COST OF CURIOSITY

Rachel Fitzgerald  | 2021 | 2′ | Ireland

Helpless insects fall victim to a child in persuit of answers.

COUCOU TCHOUTCHOU

Charlie Mars | 2021 | 4′ | France

“Coucou Tchoutchou” is EXACTLY like our world. Try to see.

DISCOVERIES

Paulo Botelho | 2022 | 2′ | Brazil

Nina, a very curious and creative child who turned her toy room into a laboratory for the most amusing experiments..

DOWNFALL

Rona Fayad | 2021 | 3′ | Lebanon

Enya’s journey trying to make it as a dancer is hindered as her behaviors drag her downhill.

DRONE

Sean Buckelew | 2022 | 15′ | United States

A malfunction at a CIA press event causes a Predator drone installed with an ethical AI personality to go rogue as it attempts to understand its purpose in the world.

DUDE

Konstantin Rosshoff, Tokay Yotimo & Marco Jörger | 2021 | 5′ | Switzerland

Sören and Melchior got lost in the woods. While Sören desperately looks for a way out, Melchior enjoys the fresh air and the drive into the blue.

EDMOND AND LUCY-SHOOTING STARS

François Narboux | 2022 | 12′ | France

Our heroes are going camping to have the best point of view on tonight’s Meteor Shower…

EL ARTE DE ENAMORARTE

Dante Zaballa | 2022 | 4′ | Argentina

“I’m missing you on a summer night”.

EL CAMINO DE LAS ESTRELLAS

Nicolas Matelot & Lucille Boitelle  | 2022 | 4′ | France

Emerging from a deep sleep, a duck embarks on an intergalactic journey, crossing steppes and space jungles.

ELEVATOR ALONE

Anastasia Papadopoulou | 2021 | 4′ | Greece

Four people and the time they spend in an elevator.

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK

Grahaeme Cowie | 2022 | 3′ | United Kingdom

Loneliness and crushing solitude are diminished by two neighbors who see each other from across the street.

FEELS

Stas Bashkatov | 2021 | 4′ | Latvia

A 7-year-old girl in a wheelchair feels very lonely sitting in her room.

YOUR MOUNTAIN IS WAITING

Hannah Jacobs | 2021 | 8′ | United Kingdom

A young woman confined by her inner-city surroundings has stopped listening to her intuition and her life is suffering as a result.

GOODBYE JÉRÔME!

Gabrielle Selnet, Adam Sillard & Chloé Farr | 2022 | 8′ | France

Having just arrived in paradise, Jerome sets out to find his wife Maryline.

GRANDPA

Théo Bongiovanni, Sophie Ouvrard, Valentine Rolland, Hugo Martins, Thomas Piot & Nell Molinier | 2022 | 7′ | France

The dive in a little girls farewell to her grandfather through an adventure in her memories of a fishing trip.

HAND

Tsz-Wing Ho | 2021 | 5′ | Hong Kong

The weird beauty of hand creatures composed of gestures, geometric shapes and abstract patterns.

HOMEBIRD

Ewa Smyk | 2021 | 10′ | United Kingdom

Struggling to make it in a big city, a young artist finds herself retreating into the rose-tinted memories of the village she left behind.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEATWAVE AND STAY HUMAN

Ronni Shalev & Alon Sharabi | 2021 | 8′ | Israel

It’s the hottest day of the year and Jerusalem is being devoured by a scorching heatwave!

I CAN'T WAIT

Arvind Singh Jeena | 2021 | 3′ | India

Gods feared Maya so much that they trapped her.

IDENTITY

Carlos Jose De Faria | 2022 | 2′ | United Kingdom

My identity has definitely been shaped by three diverse cultural elements: Venezuelan, Portuguese and British.

IDODO

Ursula Ulmi  | 2022 | 10′ | Switzerland

An old legend by the Ziag Zagaz clan of Papua New Guinea tells the story of how reef fish got their beautiful colours.

IN DIFFERITA

Pietro Borzì | 2022 | 3′ | Italy

The parable of the couple’s story of the two protagonists, a cowboy and his lady.

IN NATURE

Marcel Barelli | 2021 | 5′ | Switzerland

You may not know it, but homosexuality isn’t just a human story.

INVISIBLE EYES

Seung-Hee Jung | 2022 | 9′ | South Korea

Three children chasing after squirrels encounter invisible eyes in the deep forest and suffer from a strange sense of guilt.

KAYAK

Solène Bosseboeuf, Flore Dechorgnat, Tiphaine Klein, Auguste Lefort & Antoine Rossi | 2022 | 7′ | France

A father and his baby’s kayak outing along a peaceful river turns out to be a real family adventure.

KINESTHESE

Caitlin Craggs | 2022 | 2′ | United States/China

Everything is motion. Don’t slow down.

 

KNUBBELS

Ilya Lorenz Barrett | 2022 | 3′ | Germany

Taros experience as a living being suddenly expands to unknown intensity as they react to the mind-altering nature of the Matter.

LAIKA & NEMO

Jan Gadermann & Sebastian Gadow | 2021 | 15′ | Germany

Nemo looks different. Nobody else wears a diving suit and such a huge helmet. But then he meets Laika, an astronaut.

LEOPOLDO FROM THE BAR

Diego Porral | 2022 | 6′ | Spain

Leopoldo is an old man living in the center of Madrid and he has been going to the same bar every day for the last 12 years.

LES MÉLOMANES

Marc-Aurèle Versini | 2021 | 2′ | Belgium

A trumpeter mounted on a chair and wearing a hat plays in a street.

LUCE AND THE ROCK

Britt Raes | 2022 | 13′ | Belgium

One day, out of nowhere, a giant Rock lays in the middle of the peaceful little village where Luce lives.

MAGNIFIED CITY

Isaku Kaneko | 2022 | 12′ | Japan

A Magnifying glass human was wandering in ruined city.

MATTRICIDE

Gemma Rigg | 2021 | 3′ | United Kingdom

A woman’s fight with urban fly-tipping.

MISTER PAPER

Steven De Beul & Ben Tesseur | 2022 | 5′ | Belgium

Mister Paper looks at his paper world with a childlike wonder. Step into his paper cosmos, where anything is possible and imagination is king.

MORE THAN I REMEMBER

Amy Bench | 2021 | 14′ | United States

One night at her home in southeastern Congo, 14-year-old Mugeni awakes to the sounds of bombs.

MR. PETE & THE IRON HORSE

Kilian Vilim | 2021 | 8′ | Switzerland

The diligent soldier Mr. Pete does everything to meet the high standards of his baroness.

MY FAT ARSE AND I

Yelyzaveta Pysmak | 2022 | 11′ | Poland

One morning a girl tries on a pair of new pants, yet they don’t quite fit her. More precisely, they are impossible to zip.

MY GRANDMOTHER IS AN EGG

Wu-Ching Chang | 2021 | 8′ | Taiwan

Egg is life per se. Eggs are fragile, but at the same time tough. My grandmother is an egg.

NONE OF US

Deniz Zagli | 2022 | 6′ | Germany

A boy in fear. His circumcision party turns into a nightmare.

ODDLANDS

An Vrombaut | 2022 | 8′ | Belgium

On the savannah, a group of strange animals play a game of hide-and-seek.

OLD YOU

Cassie Shao | 2021 | 3′ | United States

A man wakes up to find himself surrounded by oceans of glass, in a world where every drop of water is replaced by lightbulbs.

OTHER HALF

Lina Kalcheva | 2022 | 14′ | United Kingdom

As an Individual Being in a world comprised of Merged Couples, Ren longs to find his other half and become complete.

OUR PIGGY

Jaromír Plachý | 2021 | 5′ | Czech Republic

Our piglet is still experiencing some adventure. Discover the magic of vacuum cleaners, wires or the fact that things sometimes buzz.

OUTSIDER

Shuo Liu | 2022 | 3′ | China

The magic between ‘frames’ acts on clay. How do we face the world in our own way?

PIVOT

Ana Gusson | 2022 | 7′ | Canada

Growing up isn’t easy, and it’s no exception for 12-year-old Ashley whose well-meaning Mom has her own ideas about who Ashley should be.

COLOURFUL FEATHERS

Maribel Suárez | 2021 | 3′ | Mexico

A group of white chickens cackle in a pastureland with their chicks, when they see a blue chicken arrive.

POLAR BEAR BEARS BOREDOM

Koji Yamamura | 2021 | 7′ | Japan

A polar bear who is very bored with various marine animals in the deep blue sea.

RED GIANT

Anne Verbeure | 2021 | 10′ | Belgium

On top of a hill, the giant listens to the everyday thoughts and conversations of the other people.

REDUCTION

Anna Reka Szakaly | 2022 | 11′ | Hungary 

Two girls live together along the post-apocalyptic coast

RUBE GOLDBERG LIPSTICK MACHINE

Joanna Goldman | 2020 | 1′ | Canada

Inspired by Simone Giertz’s “Shi**y Robots”, a whimsical 3D animation of a complicated Rube Goldberg machine used to apply makeup.

SAUNA

Anna Lena Spring & Lara Perren | 2021 | 4′ | Switzerland

Ava enters the Sauna for the first time.

SCREEN TIME

Dan Wenger | 2021 | 4′ | Switzerland

A thumb meets the screen of a smartphone.

SEVEN GRAMS

Kharim Ben Khelifa & Tt Hernandez | 2022 | 8′ | France

Chance was abducted by the NDC, an active guerrilla group in Eastern Congo, while visiting his older sister.

SHAKESPEARE FOR ALL AGES

Hannes Rall | 2022 | 3′ | Germany

An overview of the work of this unique literary genius without getting bogged down in long-winded lectures on verse and drama theory.

SHE DREAMS AT SUNRISE

Camrus Johnson | 2021 | 11′ | United States

An elderly woman escapes her mundane reality through her dreams while her great-nephew helps reconnect her to what she’s really missing.

SIMON 3 "HOP ON YOUR BIKE"

Julien Cayot | 2021 | 5′ | France

Simon is an adorable little rabbit who exudes all the vitality of childhood.

SOAPLESS SOAP

Tamar Sharvit & Bar Vaknine | 2021 | 2′ | Israel

A bar of soap slips from Oleg’s hand to the shower floor, flooding his mind with the memory of his final competition as the town’s former Shot-Put champion.

SOFT TISSUE

Cliona Noonan | 2022 | 9′ | Ireland

A father takes desperate measures in the hopes of saving his son, but his actions soon become a distraction from what matters to him most.

STEP BY STEP

Fanny Paoli, Anabelle David, Emma Gach, Claire Robert, Julie Valentin & Thēodore Janvier | 2022 | 8′ | France

A little rain boot wakes up on a river’s side. On her journey through the forest she would overcome any obstacles to find her way back home.

STONE HEART

Humberto Rodrigues | 2022 | 9′ | Brazil 

Wars, epidemics, resource scarcity and social collapse have turned human beings into deformed stone figures trapped in their worst vices.

TALES OF THE SALT WATER

Tamerlan Bekmurzayev, Antoine Carre, Rodrigo Goulão De Sousa, Alexandra Petit & Martin Robic | 2022 | 9′ | France

Under the last summer days sun’s, a young man gets ready to leave his family home.

THE BOOB FAIRY

Léahn Vivier | 2022 | 13′ | France

Who will best play her part: the dancing lioness or the little girl we attempt to tame?

THE CHILD AND THE GOOSE

Jade Chastan, Alice Failla, Justine Hermetz, Sophie Lafleur & Vincent Lenne | 2022 | 8′ | France

A child and a goose becoming friends find themselves embarking on a journey of adventure and freedom.

THE FANTASTIC FLYING COMPETITION

John Croezen | 2021 | 6′ | Netherlands

The countdown begins and the birds line up for the annual Flying Competition, but one by one each team runs into trouble…

THE GIRL BEHIND THE MIRROR

Iuri Moreno | 2022 | 13′ | Brazil

A transgender girl locks herself in her room for fear of the monsters that threaten her outside.

THE LOST STAR

Sofya Nabok | 2022 | 6′ | Poland

One dark night, on the fields, the Dormouse finds a smiling Star, who fell down of the sky.

THE PATTERN

Péter Bogyó | 2021 | 15′ | Hungary

Three protagonists who, even though live in separate subjective worlds, they all need the same yellow flower for their happiness.

THE SOLOISTS

Mehrnaz Abdollahinia, Feben Woldehawariat, Razahk Issaka, Celeste Jamneck & Yi Liu | 2022 | 8′ | France

In a small village ruled by ridiculous laws, three singing sisters and their dog rehearse for the Annual Autumn Festival.

THE SOUP

Arief Khoirul Alim | 2022 | 4′ | Indonesia

The vegetables in this story have to face their own fears when they see their friend being sliced with a knife by the chef.

THE TURNIP

Piret Sigus & Silja Saarepuu | 2022 | 7′ | Estonia

A film about property, collaboration and betrayal.

THE WAY TO A MAN'S HEART

Jule Körperich & Karin Demuth  | 2021 | 11′ | Germany

A dog who falls in love with a single gentleman.

TRICHOTILLOMANIA!

Kelly Schiesswohl | 2021 | 4′ | United States

One girl’s Google-search-gone-wrong to find out why she can’t stop pulling out her hair.

WHEN THE MOON WAS GIBBOUS

Erika Grace Strada | 2022 | 4′ | Denmark

The life of a colorful ensemble of beasts is abruptly interrupted by the arrival of a small group of humans.

YAY

Anne Isensee | 2021 | 3′ | Germany

Three friends must combine their strengths to emerge from the darkness together.

MUGAN BOE

Olowaili Green Santacruz & Juan Esteban Díaz Puerta | 2022 | 4′ | Colombia

Mugan Boe (“the cry of the grandmothers”) recounts the chants and the dances by the Gunadule people to remember the harsh Spanish invasion.

GOOD JOB

Eric Bradford, Techin Chen, Virág Negyedy & Jose Alejandro Segura Mena | 2022 | 6′ | France

With her deadline fast approaching, Mimi the cat panics across the vast halls of a tech company on a mission to gain approval from her uncaring superiors.