Brazil’s leading animation festival announces 52 selected films across 4 competitive sections, with prizes totaling over €2,300 in Goiânia this March.
The Lanterna Mágica – International Animation Festival has unveiled the official selection for its 8th edition, taking place from March 23 to 29, 2025, in Goiânia, in the state of Goiás, Brazil. After receiving over a thousand entries from around the world, curators selected 52 films spread across four competitive sections.
The Selected Films
The Brazilian Short Films Competition features 16 national productions. The Feature Films Competition presents 6 Ibero-American titles. The International Competition brings 17 short films from across the globe. The Student Competition showcases 13 works from film schools and universities worldwide.
Awards
The festival grants 9 official awards per section — 7 from the jury, 1 from the audience and 1 from the press. In addition to the iconic Lanterna Mágica Trophy, winners receive cash prizes totaling over €2,300. The Official Jury prize breakdown is:
€300 – Best Student Short
€500 – Best Brazilian Short
€500 – Best International Short
€1,000 – Best Ibero-American Feature Film
Three Core Programs
The festival is built around three complementary pillars. The Exhibition strand encompasses competitive and non-competitive screenings, providing a diverse platform for filmmakers from every corner of the world. The Market strand, powered by the Lanterna Film Market, gathers producers, distributors and animators for case studies, talks and panels that drive the industry forward. The third pillar, Lanterna Educa, focuses on screenings for public schools and workshops open to the general public.
The festival is also home to the Hospital de Projetos Animados (Animated Projects Lab), Brazil’s only development laboratory dedicated exclusively to animation — supporting emerging projects with specialized mentorship on their way to market.
Brazilian Shorts Highlights
Among the 16 Brazilian selections, thematic and aesthetic diversity stands out. A Tragédia da Lobo-Guará (Kimberly Palermo, Rio de Janeiro) follows a maned wolf wandering Brazil after losing everything. Kabuki (Tiago Minamisawa, São Paulo) confronts the genocide of transgender people based on real stories. Morto Não (Alex Reis, São Paulo) traces the inner conflicts of a Black father as his first child is born. And Safo (Rosana Urbes, São Paulo) translates into animation fragments of poetry by Sappho of Lesbos, recently rediscovered in the Egyptian desert.
Ibero-American Feature Films
Six features compete for the €1,000 top prize. The Brazilian film Glória e Liberdade (Letícia Simões) imagines a fragmented Brazil in 2050, where a young documentarian travels across four independent nations. Nimuendajú (Tania Anaya, Brazil) chronicles the life of ethnologist Curt Unckel, baptized by the Guaraní people. From Spain, Decorado (Alberto Vazquez) dives into the existential crisis of an anthropomorphic rat. And Revoada (Ducca Rios, Brazil) revisits the world of the northeastern Brazilian outlaws — the cangaceiros — in a steampunk retelling.
International Competition
The 17 international films arrive from Croatia, the United Kingdom, Poland, Israel, France, Italy, Canada, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Philippines, Russia, Portugal and beyond. Sulaimani (Vinnie Ann Bose, France) follows two young Indian women in Paris whose dormant memories surface over dinner. The Quinta’s Ghost (James A. Castillo, Spain) recreates Francisco de Goya’s final days at La Quinta del Sordo, haunted by visions that led him to paint his legendary Black Paintings. I AM FINE (Osi Wald, Israel) assembles animated diary entries made between 2022 and 2025 — a deeply personal account of life amid protests and war.
Student Competition
Thirteen student films compete, with entries from Brazil, the United States, Japan, France, Spain and Mexico. Maninho (Erik Cruz, Gobelins Paris) captures the bittersweet moment a younger sister faces her older brother’s departure to university. Farewell (Ximena Álvarez Portilla, Escena Guadalajara, Mexico) handles the theme of suicide and goodbye with remarkable sensitivity. My Organs Lying on the Ground (Shinobu Soejima, Tokyo University of the Arts) meditates on the cycle of life through a hollow puppet that awakens in a cave.
About the Festival
Lanterna Mágica is organized by Camila Nunes, artistic director and audiovisual producer, and Wadih Elkadi, executive producer and founder of the Goiás-based production company Baloo Filmes. Established as one of Brazil’s most important animation festivals, the event champions innovative works, aesthetic diversity and emerging talent in world animation cinema.
The festival promotes both the Brazilian and global animation market, energizing the local and international scene.
Event Info
Event: 8th Lanterna Mágica – International Animation Festival
Dates: March 23–29, 2025
Location: Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
Organization: Camila Nunes and Wadih Elkadi / Baloo Filmes
Photo: Press Release
