Festivalul Internațional de Film de Animație Animest
Animest 2026: Nature takes over the big screen!
Between October 2 and 11, the Animest International Animation Film Festival returns to the big screens of Bucharest with its 21st edition. This year's festival theme invites you to explore the profound connections between humans and the environment, bringing NATURE to the forefront—from the mysteries of ancient forests to the fragile balance of ecosystems and the green invasion of urban space.
What does it mean to truly look at the natural world? To let yourself be overwhelmed by its force, to understand its hidden rhythms, or to take responsibility for its protection? In the age of digital and virtual realities, do we still know how to listen to the organic pulse of the planet that hosts us? These are just a few of the perspectives that Animest.21 proposes for exploration through a vast program of screenings, special events, meetings with guests from all over the world, and programs dedicated to the artists. You will discover spectacular feature films, multi-award-winning movies from major international festivals, as well as numerous short-films that explore nature from unexpected angles, featuring vibrant landscapes, fantastic creatures, and an important ecological message.
Don't miss Animest.21! The Ten Stops and Full Trip passes are available now, offering unlimited access to the festival experience.
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The Animest International Animation Film Festival is the largest and longest-running festival in Romania dedicated exclusively to animated film. Founded in 2006, the festival brings hundreds of films from all over the world to the big screen, across multiple competition categories, retrospectives, and programs dedicated to famous animation schools, animation festivals, and major industry names. Every year in October, Bucharest hosts film directors, producers, students, curators, and journalists, who take part in discussions with the audience, hold workshops and masterclasses, and present their new animated film projects.
The winners of the Animest Trophy and the Romanian competition automatically become eligible for the Academy Awards®, with Animest being the only festival in Romania holding this status.
Program Festivalul Internațional de Film de Animație Animest
calendar_month
7 Oct 2026
schedule
20:30
calendar_month 7 Oct 2026 schedule 20:30
Competiția Românească
Animest.21
Bedtime Routine – Romania 2025, 4’24, dir. Gabriel Stoiciu Catharsis – Romania 2026, 9’18, dir. Carmen Maria Dumitru Don't waste your pearls on me, amen... – Romania 2026, 2’53, dir. Sebastian Lăutaru Geese-y does it! – Romania 2025, 4’10, dir....See more details
location_on Cinema Muzeul Țăranului - Studioul Horia Bernea, București info
Competiția Românească
Animest.21
location_on Cinema Muzeul Țăranului - Studioul Horia Bernea, București info
price: 28 lei
Competiția Românească
calendar_month
7 Oct 2026
schedule
20:30
calendar_month 7 Oct 2026 schedule 20:30
Mother Nature's Son 12+
Animest.21
short films SANTORE - That Ball, France 2017 - Mathilde Bedouet - 4’ BOTANICA EXOTICA, Hungary 2022 - Sofia Laszlovszky - 13’ BIRD HOUSE, Croatia 2023, - Petra Pavetic Kranjcec - 4’ THE SOLE, BETWEEN WATER AND SAND, France 2011 - Angèle Chiodo - 15’ ANTARCTICA, Belgium 2016 - Jereon Ceulebrouck -10’ THE DEWBERRY EMPIRE, United Kingdom 2013 - Christian Schlaeffer - 8’ WILDFLOWER, Spain 2023 - Carina Pierro Corso - 6’ WILD SUMMON, United Kingdom, 2023 - Karni Arieli, Saul Freed - 14’ THE MAN WITH BIRDS, France, 2017 - Quentin Marcault - 4’
location_on Instituto Cervantes, București info
Mother Nature's Son
calendar_month
7 Oct 2026
schedule
21:00
calendar_month 7 Oct 2026 schedule 21:00
Jim Queen 16+
Animest.21
volume_up FRJim, figură sexy a scenei gay pariziene, își vede viața dată peste cap când se infectează cu „Heterose”, un virus ciudat care transformă bărbații gay… în heterosexuali! Toată lumea îi întoarce spatele, cu excepția ultimului său follower (și primului său admirator), tânărul Lucien, care se luptă să se accepte pe sine....See more details
location_on Cinemateca Eforie, București info
Jim Queen
calendar_month
8 Oct 2026
schedule
12:00
calendar_month 8 Oct 2026 schedule 12:00
Animest VR Experience 16+
Animest.21
The ticket guarantees one hour of VR experiences from the festival's selection, chosen at the venue. A LONG GOODBYE, Belgium 2025 - Kate Voet, Victor Maes - 25’ FALLAX, Iceland, United Kingdom 2025 - Owen Hindley - 23’ IF YOU SEE A CAT, Japan 2026- Atsushi Wada - 37’ LESBIAN SIMULATOR, The Netherlands 2025- Iris van der Meule - 40’ LESS THAN 5GR OF SAFFRON, France 2025 - Négar Motevalymeidanshah - 7’ RETSU (THE LINE), Japan 2026 - Naho Kamimura - 30’ SENSE OF NOWHERE, Taiwan 2025 - Hsin Hsuan Yeh - 30’ THE BIG CUBE, Finland, China, Belgium, Portugal 2025 - Menghui Huang - 6’45 THE SAD STORY OF THE LITTLE MOUSE WHO WANTED TO BECOME SOMEBODY, France, Germany, Belgium 2025 - Nicolas Bourniquel - 29’
location_on CINETic, București info
Animest VR Experience
calendar_month
8 Oct 2026
schedule
13:30
calendar_month 8 Oct 2026 schedule 13:30
Animest VR Experience 16+
Animest.21
The ticket guarantees one hour of VR experiences from the festival's selection, chosen at the venue. A LONG GOODBYE, Belgium 2025 - Kate Voet, Victor Maes - 25’ FALLAX, Iceland, United Kingdom 2025 - Owen Hindley - 23’ IF YOU SEE A CAT, Japan 2026- Atsushi Wada - 37’ LESBIAN SIMULATOR, The Netherlands 2025- Iris van der Meule - 40’ LESS THAN 5GR OF SAFFRON, France 2025 - Négar Motevalymeidanshah - 7’ RETSU (THE LINE), Japan 2026 - Naho Kamimura - 30’ SENSE OF NOWHERE, Taiwan 2025 - Hsin Hsuan Yeh - 30’ THE BIG CUBE, Finland, China, Belgium, Portugal 2025 - Menghui Huang - 6’45 THE SAD STORY OF THE LITTLE MOUSE WHO WANTED TO BECOME SOMEBODY, France, Germany, Belgium 2025 - Nicolas Bourniquel - 29’
location_on CINETic, București info
Animest VR Experience
calendar_month
8 Oct 2026
schedule
15:00
calendar_month 8 Oct 2026 schedule 15:00
Animest VR Experience 16+
Animest.21
The ticket guarantees one hour of VR experiences from the festival's selection, chosen at the venue. A LONG GOODBYE, Belgium 2025 - Kate Voet, Victor Maes - 25’ FALLAX, Iceland, United Kingdom 2025 - Owen Hindley - 23’ IF YOU SEE A CAT, Japan 2026- Atsushi Wada - 37’ LESBIAN SIMULATOR, The Netherlands 2025- Iris van der Meule - 40’ LESS THAN 5GR OF SAFFRON, France 2025 - Négar Motevalymeidanshah - 7’ RETSU (THE LINE), Japan 2026 - Naho Kamimura - 30’ SENSE OF NOWHERE, Taiwan 2025 - Hsin Hsuan Yeh - 30’ THE BIG CUBE, Finland, China, Belgium, Portugal 2025 - Menghui Huang - 6’45 THE SAD STORY OF THE LITTLE MOUSE WHO WANTED TO BECOME SOMEBODY, France, Germany, Belgium 2025 - Nicolas Bourniquel - 29’
location_on CINETic, București info
Animest VR Experience
calendar_month
8 Oct 2026
schedule
16:30
calendar_month 8 Oct 2026 schedule 16:30
Animest VR Experience 16+
Animest.21
The ticket guarantees one hour of VR experiences from the festival's selection, chosen at the venue. A LONG GOODBYE, Belgium 2025 - Kate Voet, Victor Maes - 25’ FALLAX, Iceland, United Kingdom 2025 - Owen Hindley - 23’ IF YOU SEE A CAT, Japan 2026- Atsushi Wada - 37’ LESBIAN SIMULATOR, The Netherlands 2025- Iris van der Meule - 40’ LESS THAN 5GR OF SAFFRON, France 2025 - Négar Motevalymeidanshah - 7’ RETSU (THE LINE), Japan 2026 - Naho Kamimura - 30’ SENSE OF NOWHERE, Taiwan 2025 - Hsin Hsuan Yeh - 30’ THE BIG CUBE, Finland, China, Belgium, Portugal 2025 - Menghui Huang - 6’45 THE SAD STORY OF THE LITTLE MOUSE WHO WANTED TO BECOME SOMEBODY, France, Germany, Belgium 2025 - Nicolas Bourniquel - 29’
location_on CINETic, București info
Animest VR Experience
calendar_month
8 Oct 2026
schedule
17:00
calendar_month 8 Oct 2026 schedule 17:00
Competition 5 14+
Animest.21
Nissa Scrim – The Netherlands 2025, 9:40, dir. Marcel Tigchelaar Mnema – Portugal 2026, 10:00, dir. Ines Costa, Carolina Bonzinho Motherhood – Romania, Belgium, France 2026, 17:00, dir. Anca Damian I Want to Know What Love Is – Sweden 2025, 6:13, dir. Hanna Järgenstedt Cocoon – France 2026, 13:05, dir....See more details
location_on Cinemateca Eforie, București info
Competition 5
calendar_month
8 Oct 2026
schedule
18:00
calendar_month 8 Oct 2026 schedule 18:00
Animest VR Experience 16+
Animest.21
The ticket guarantees one hour of VR experiences from the festival's selection, chosen at the venue. A LONG GOODBYE, Belgium 2025 - Kate Voet, Victor Maes - 25’ FALLAX, Iceland, United Kingdom 2025 - Owen Hindley - 23’ IF YOU SEE A CAT, Japan 2026- Atsushi Wada - 37’ LESBIAN SIMULATOR, The Netherlands 2025- Iris van der Meule - 40’ LESS THAN 5GR OF SAFFRON, France 2025 - Négar Motevalymeidanshah - 7’ RETSU (THE LINE), Japan 2026 - Naho Kamimura - 30’ SENSE OF NOWHERE, Taiwan 2025 - Hsin Hsuan Yeh - 30’ THE BIG CUBE, Finland, China, Belgium, Portugal 2025 - Menghui Huang - 6’45 THE SAD STORY OF THE LITTLE MOUSE WHO WANTED TO BECOME SOMEBODY, France, Germany, Belgium 2025 - Nicolas Bourniquel - 29’
location_on CINETic, București info
Animest VR Experience
calendar_month
8 Oct 2026
schedule
18:30
calendar_month 8 Oct 2026 schedule 18:30
What a Wonderful World 12+
Animest.21
Short Films GARDEN, UK 2019 - Flora Caulton - 4’ I WAS CRYING OUT AT LIFE, OR FOR IT, France 2009 - Vergine Keaton - 9’ MINDSCAPE, Canada 1976 - Jacques Drouin - 8’ YELLOW ROSE, Australia 2017 - Xin Li - 4’ ANIMA NATURA, Estonia 2024 - Andrea Gudino - 6’ RED-END AND THE FACTORY PLANT, The Netherlands 2015 - Robin Noorda, Bethany De Forest -15’30 SMALL GARDEN, Japan 2014 - Shunsuke Saito - 12’30 LA BOTANIQUE DES AMOURS, Belgium 2014 - Laura Nicolas, Anne-Sophie Cayon - 4’30 PETAL TO THE METAL, Canada 2021 - Emily Pelstring - 3’ BY THE RIVER, UK 2016 - Will Rose - 2’ WINTER IN THE RAINFOREST, Estonia, Lithuania 2019 - Anu-Laura Tuttelberg - 8’35
location_on Cinema Muzeul Țăranului - Studioul Horia Bernea, București info
What a Wonderful World 12+
Animest.21
location_on Cinema Muzeul Țăranului - Studioul Horia Bernea, București info
price: 28 lei
What a Wonderful World