La Guarimba International Film Festival

La Guarimba International Film Festival

Location	Amantea, Calabria, Italy
Established	2013;12 years ago (2013)
Founded by	Giulio Vita, Sara Fratini
Festival date	7–12 August

La Guarimba International Film Festival

La Guarimba International Film Festival is a cultural association and annual international short film festival held in Amantea, Calabria, Italy. The festival showcases short films from all over the world, divided into the following categories: Fiction, Animation, Documentary, Experimental Film, and Music Video. La Grotta dei Piccoli, a "child-friendly zone" which includes animated films, educational workshops, and events with directors and animators, runs in collaboration with UNICEF Italy. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}

The festival was founded in 2012 by a group of friends who sought to reopen the only cinema in the small town of Amantea in southern Italy.^{[ citation needed ]} It aims to promote the values of participatory democracy, integration, human rights, and accessibility. ^{[6] [7] [8]} The association uses the motto "Bringing the cinema back to the people and the people back to the cinema." ^[9]

History

La Guarimba was founded by Giulio Vita and illustrator Sara Fratini in Vita's hometown of Amantea. Vita, the artistic director, and Fratini worked to create a short film festival within a year. This small festival created opportunities for emerging international filmmakers to screen their films in front of audiences from around the world. ^{[10] [11]}

One of the first hurdles when creating the festival was finding a location for the screenings. The abandoned Arena Sicoli, a former open-air cinema with 938 seats, was restored and used for the screenings at the first edition of the festival in August 2013. ^[12] They were able to restore the space with support from the community of Amantea and the Sicoli family. ^[13]

For the second edition, the cinema concession was not renewed, and the festival took place in the "La Grotta" nature park in Amantea, maintaining the spirit of the open-air cinema. ^[14] The festival was held at La Grotta Park from 2014 to 2020, but after the partial collapse of the grotta walls, the park was declared unsafe for public use. In 2021, the festival was held in an abandoned parking lot that was, like the Arena Sicoli, cleaned and restored by the team of La Guarimba and volunteers from the town.

Later in 2021, La Guarimba Cultural Association purchased a plot of land, named Il Terrenito, attached to an office space in the center of Amantea. Since 2022, the festival has taken place at Il Terrenito. ^[15]

Organizers

The founders of the festival, Giulio Vita, Sara Fratini, and two members of the Spanish film collective El tornillo de Klaus, Pablo Cristóbal and Alicia Victoria Palacios Thomas, bring together independent artists and audiovisual critics. ^[16] The idea for the festival was born in Madrid, where Vita studied cinema, and Fratini studied fine arts. There they met members of the El Tornillo de Klaus collective and worked with them for the launch and the development of La Guarimba International Film Festival. ^[17]

The association's team is made up of young people from all over the world, who collaborate to organize the festival and various events during the rest of the year.

Name

Guarimba, in the Venezuelan indigenous language, means "safe place".

This word has a hybrid etymology since the root guari-, from the German warjan , means to take refuge, to hide or to defend, as well as the Spanish derivative guarida. Though the latter has developed a negative meaning of "refuge of beasts or wild animals" and, by extension, of criminals or people with bad reputations. The ending -imba is formed from "guarida".

Jury

Previous jury members have included directors, journalists, and international critics.

Illustration exhibition

Sara Fratini founded the open air illustration exhibition called "Artists for La Guarimba." Each year, international illustrators create a festival poster in their style, using the official poster made by Mikel Murillo as their inspiration. Now Artists for La Guarimba is curated by Giulio Vita and Valeria Weerasinghe. The exhibition is open during the festival and in various places along the tour. ^[18]

Some of the posters made have won awards and the recognition of AI American Illustration, including Meredith Jansen's in 2020 ^[19] and Natalya Balnova's in 2015. ^[20]

Editions

La Guarimba was launched on 7 August 2013.

Excluding 2020, the festival is held annually in the summer.

First edition

The first edition of the festival took place from 5 to 10 August 2013. ^[21]

303 short films from around the world applied to the selection and 10 fiction films, 5 animated films and 5 documentaries were selected. In addition, an exhibition of 30 posters from artists from all over the world was held.

As part of the German project "A Wall is A Screen" (a guest of the festival), several screenings were made using the walls of buildings in the streets of Amantea.

The opening titles for the first edition were produced by TKSH Film Production.

Second edition

The second edition of the festival took place from the 7th to the 14th of August 2014. ^[22]

498 short films from all over the world participated in the selection and 20 fiction films, 15 animated films and 10 documentaries were selected. An exhibition of 30 posters from artists from all over the world was held.

For the first time, the festival took place in the La Grotta de Amantea natural park, thanks to the installation of a screen on the slopes of the natural cave. ^[23]

Third edition

The third edition of the festival took place from the 7th to the 11th of August 2015. ^[24]

The official selection of short films in the categories fiction, animation, and documentary aimed to challenge the audience rather than only provide entertainment. This edition of the festival drew in more than a thousand people.

30 posters by artists from all over the world were exhibited. ^[25]

Vimeo's presence at the festival enriched the content of this third festival, when the first European conference on independent distribution and Vimeo On Demand was launched. After the conference, a special program created by Sam Morrill was screened. ^[26]

Fourth edition

The fourth edition of the festival took place from the 7th to the 11th of August 2016. ^[27]

More than 1,300 short films from all over the world participated in the selection.

The fourth edition was dedicated to Chinese and Japanese cinema, celebrating 150 years of cultural exchange between Italy and the two countries.

During this edition, the selection of La Grotta dei Piccoli (films for children) was launched, with screenings of animated short films in a space dedicated to children.

Fifth edition

The fifth edition of the festival took place from the 7th to the 11th of August 2017. ^[28]

The theme of this edition was propaganda during the Cold War era. The program brought together short films of different genres from all continents.

Once again, Vimeo presented its "Vimeo Staff Pick". In addition, a collaboration was initiated, which created a special program of African Films.

An exhibition of illustrations, a natural clothing dyeing workshop (with the Fragmentario Collective), an African dance workshop and various conferences all enriched the program of the fifth edition.

Sixth edition

The sixth edition of the festival took place from 7 to 11 August 2018. ^[29]

1,500 short films from all over the world took part in the selection, with 68 works in competition, divided into the categories Fiction, Animation, Documentary, Insomnia, and La Grotta dei Piccoli - Films for children.

The festival included an exhibition of illustrations, a film residency project, two concerts, and a conference day entitled "Young African Filmmakers and the future of African Cinema". ^[30]

Seventh edition

The seventh edition of the festival took place from 7 to 11 August 2019. ^[31]

More than 1000 short films participated in the selection. 152 works from 42 countries, divided into the categories Fiction, Animation, Documentary, Insomnia, and La Grotta dei Piccoli - Children's film, were selected.

The international jury was composed of Jeanette Bonds (United States), founder and director of the GLAS Animation Festival, Éva Katinka Bógnar (Hungary), teacher and animation director, as well as Norma Guevara (France), director of the Women Film Festival Network. ^[32]

A collective cleaning of Amantea's beach, in collaboration with the NGO, Parley For The Oceans, launched this edition of the festival. In the following days, workshops, concerts, industry conferences, a narration seminar in collaboration with Scuola Holden, photographic exhibitions, and an exhibition of illustrations were organized. ^[33]

Eighth edition

The eighth edition of the festival took place from the 7 to 12 August 2020. ^[34] Despite the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic which forced the majority of festivals to be held online, La Guarimba held a face-to-face event, registering more than 3,000 admissions in 6 days. ^[35]

1160 short films participated in the selection. 160 works coming from 54 countries from all continents, and divided in the categories Fiction, Animation, Documentary, Insomnia, and La Grotta dei Piccoli were selected for the competition.

The eighth edition of the festival received the Medal of the Representation from the President of the Republic - Sergio Mattarella, the High Patronage of the European Parliament, the Patronage of the Council of Ministers, and also received the support of the embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Federal German Republic, the Republic of Ireland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Norway, the Austrian Cultural Forum, as well as the Flanders State of Arts. ^[36]

In February 2020, the municipality of Amantea was dissolved due to fraud and mafia infiltration. ^[37] This caused the closure of La Grotta Park throughout the year. Therefore, the association engaged in an urban restoration project, cleaning up the park and restoring the facilities, and encouraging the involvement of the whole community, thus allowing the park to reopen to the public. ^[38]

Ninth edition

The ninth edition of the festival took place from August 7 to 12, 2021. ^[39]

1174 short films participated in the election, with 172 films in competition from 56 countries all across the globe (5 African countries, 13 Asian, 28 European, 9 American, 1 Oceanic), divided into the following categories: fiction, animation, documentary, experimental, and La Grotta dei Piccoli - Children's Film.

The ninth edition received the Medal of Representation of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the High Patronage of the European Parliament, the Patronage of the Council of Ministers and the Award of Representation of the Chamber of Deputies; and was realized thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Embassy of the United States in Italy, in collaboration with the European Commission, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Italy, the Embassy of Switzerland for Italy, Malta and San Marino, the Embassy of Lithuania in Italy, the Embassy of Ireland in Italy, the Embassy of Norway, the Embassy of Australia, the Embassy of Canada, the Flemish State of the Arts, and the Polish Institute in Rome.

Due to the collapse of a rocky ridge in the historic center of Amantea, which made the Parco La Grotta ^[40] unusable, the festival had to change location. The idea was to recover an abandoned parking lot, as part of a larger urban renewal project that led to the cleaning and clearing of the area, as well as the creation of two murals by street artists Sara Fratini and Cesáh. ^[41]

Tenth edition

The tenth edition of the festival took place from August 7 to 12, 2022. ^[42]

This edition received the same rewards as the previous years.

On the tenth anniversary of the festival, 163 short films were screened, from 54 countries all across the globe.

There were 5 categories: Fiction, Animation, Documentary, Videoclip, and Insomnia – Experimental Films. Like every year, La Grotta dei Piccoli also presented a selection of a hundred short films for children and young people.

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, the festival also presented 4 special programs: Indigenous Films, dedicated to 5 indigenous cultures from 5 continents; A Screen for Glas Animation which screened short films from this Californian festival, partner of La Guarimba; Sláva Ukrayíni!, a screening of Ukrainian movies in support of the directors affected by the conflict, and Taiwan Focus which celebrated the Taiwanese independent cinema and hosted the Ambassador of Taiwan, Andrea Sing-Ying Lee, at the Holy See.

Eleventh edition

The eleventh edition took place from August 7 to 12, 2023 ^[43] at Il Terrinito. La Grotta Park, which hosted the previous edition, was closed at the beginning of the year due to unsafe conditions.

This edition received the same rewards as the previous years. Among the 1246 short films received, 159 films from 45 countries were screened.

There were 5 categories shown in 2023: Fiction, Animation, Documentary, Videoclip, and Insomnia – Experimental Films. Like every year, La Grotta dei Piccoli also presented a selection of a hundred short films for children and young people.

During this edition, some special programs were also presented: the short documentary film UNHCR: Rebuilding Ukraine that showed the humanitarian aid process in Ukraine, the program Stories from Iran during which one of 3 films from independent filmmakers (included two women) were screened, and the special program called Feminist Porn.

Twelfth edition

The twelfth edition took place from August 7 to 12, 2024 at Il Terrinito.

This edition received the same rewards as the previous years. Among the 1044 short films received, 158 films from 52 countries were screened.

There were 6 categories shown in 2024: Fiction, Animation, Documentary, Videoclip, and Insomnia – Experimental Films and Dance. Like every year, La Grotta dei Piccoli also presented a selection of a hundred short films for children and young people.

Thirteenth edition

The thirteenth edition took place from August 7 to 12, 2025 ^[44] at Il Terrinito.

This edition received the same rewards as the previous years. Among the 1290 short films received, 193 films from 67 countries were screened.

There were 6 categories shown in 2025: Fiction, Animation, Documentary, Videoclip, and Insomnia – Experimental Films and Dance. Like every year, La Grotta dei Piccoli also presented a selection of a hundred short films for children and young people.

During this edition, some special programs were also presented:

'Serato Animato,' an Italian animators collective curated a program of 15 animated shorts for the final night of the festival. At Grotta dei Piccoli, a program called Sunday Cinema / Films of Resistance was screened on the final evening of the festival. This is a collection of short animated films by Haneen Koraz, Nour A-Jawad and Shorook Darwish. The films are created in collaboration with displaced children in Gaza.

Legal battles

Conflict between open air summer festivals and distributors

During the preparation for the eighth edition of the festival, La Guarimba was involved in a complaint ^[45] against the professional associations of distributors and film directors, Anica and Anec, who had given "written indications to Italian and foreign distributors not to not grant licenses for the screening of films in free entry on Italian territory, which resulted in 235 denied permits out of 263 applications for screening permits, although the films had completed their period of commercial exploitation in theatres", as indicated during the parliamentary question of June 18, 2020. ^[46] On 24 June 2020, the authority overseeing competition law opened a preliminary investigation against Anica, Anec and Anec Lazio for "obstacles for the concession of films to the open-air free cinemas". ^[47]

In order to guarantee the continuity of the provision of a free service to the community aimed at promoting film culture in the territory, several parliamentarians asked the Ministry of Culture to monitor the action of complaint involving La Guarimba International Film Festival together with other Italian associations. The parliamentarians acknowledged the significant role played by the associations mentioned in the case on cultural and social level, which "allow citizens from all social classes to have access to culture, with the aim of give a new market value to dated or independent works and contribute to the creation of a film education." Additionally, they guaranteed psychological and social support and acting as a motor of cultural offer in an emergency period during which Italy has been particularly affected.

It was underlined that "the films have already concluded their period of commercial exploitation in the cinemas, in free-to-air television, in paid television, in streaming and on DVD and do not include titles present on the market in the current film season", thus contesting the indications of Anica and Anec who, in the past, did not grant licenses for the screenings during free film events on the Italian territory, thus affecting negatively the free service offered by cultural associations and encouraging organizers to consider the possibility of payment for citizens. ^{[46] [48] [49]}

The case of Abbas Nadeem

The festival team assisted Abbas Mian Nadeem, a young Pakistani migrant who was expelled from Amantea. La Guarimba collaborated with authorities to facilitate his return and access to legal support. ^[50]

Position in favor of Ukraine

The festival publicly opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, through several actions. All Ukrainian filmmakers have been granted an exemption from paying registration for the festival, with the creation of the special program Sláva Ukryíni! All producers, directors and distributors who expressed clear positions in favor of Putin were excluded, while Russian directors who took a public stand against the invasion were selected. The festival organized the screening of the documentary The Earth is Blue as an Orange, directed by Iryna Tsilyk, winner of the Director's Award in the "World Cinema Documentary" category at the Sundance Film Festival 2020.

The Monkey's School

In 2014, the cultural association La Guarimba won a public tender from the Apulia region which allowed it to create The Monkey's School (Scuola Delle Scimmie). It is the first accessible independent film and illustration school based on the Montessori Model of Participatory Democracy. In September 2014 La Guarimba created a workshop with 45 young people on the subjects of illustration and cinema. ^[51]

On tour

After each edition, La Guarimba organizes a tour during which the films in competition are presented.

In 2013, the festival participated in the fourth edition of Pane, Web e Salame as the first Calabrian representative of the event. ^[52]

As part of the sixth edition of the Workshop on Social Enterprise, held in Riva del Garda in 2013, Giulio Vita was invited to speak about the impact that the reopening of the Arena Sicoli had on the community of Amantea during the festival. ^[50]

In September 2013, La Guarimba was invited by the Cultural Association La Scheggia to participate in the Cinema Beltrade film cycle. The award-winning short films in the first edition were screened there, accompanied by a speech by the director of the winning documentary short, Benedetta Panisson. ^[53]

In June 2015, TEDxPompeii invited Giulio Vita, the founder of the festival, to tell the story of La Guarimba.

Awards

In 2020, on the occasion of the eighth edition, the Audience Award for the best short film in competition was dedicated to Vitaliano Camarca, creator of the Program "Film Mediterraneo" in Amantea.

From the first edition of the festival to the twelfth, the Nonna Saveria Award was chosen by Vita's grandmother, who passed away in September of 2024. For the 2025 edition of the festival, the award was reimagined as a way to honour a member of the local community that supports and helps make the festival happen, rather than a film and filmmaker. In 2025 it was awarded to Filippo Vita, father of Giulio Vita.

2025
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	A Son and A Father	Andrés Ramírez Pulido	Colombia / France
Best Animation	The Golden Donkey	Anne Verbeure	Belgium
Best Documentary	Shadows	Rand Beiruty	Jordan / France
Best Music Video	Sexual Misery	Ingrid Heiderscheidt	Belgium
Best Experimental “INSOMNIA”	Beyond the Façade	Eyup Kus	Austria
Vitaliano Camarca Audience Award	The Leader Will Come	Michiel Geluykens and Manuel Janssens	Belgium
La Grotta dei Piccoli Award	Amen	Orphee Courtier, Bettina Demarty, Kimie Maingonnat, Laurène Perego, Louise Poulain, Avril Zunde	France
Guarimberos Award	Children of the Bird	Julia Tudisco	Hungary
2024
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	Cross My Heart and Hope To Die	Sam Manacsa	Philippines
Best Animation	Nun or Never	Heta Jäälinoja	Finland
Best Documentary	The Moon Will Contain Us	Kim Torres	Costa Rica
Best Music Video	Météores	Agnès Patron, Morgane Le Péchon	France
Best Experimental “INSOMNIA”	Ardent Other	Alice Brygo	France
Vitaliano Camarca Audience Award	Radio Perla Del Tirreno	Noemi Arfuso	Italy
La Grotta dei Piccoli Award	My Name Is Edgar And I Have A Cow	Filip Diviak	Czech Republic
Nonna Saveria Award	Radio Perla Del Tirreno	Noemi Arfuso	Italy
Guarimberos Award	Drizzle In Johnson	Ivan Li	Canada
2023
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	Our males and females	Ahmad Alyaseer	Jordan
Best Animation	My year of dicks	Sara Gunnarsdóttir	United States
Best Documentary	Apostles of cinema	Darragh Amelia, Gertrude Malizana, Jesse Gerard Mpango, Cece Mlay	Tanzania
Best Music Video	Chasseur chassé	Lolita Do Peso Diogo, Gabriel Wéber	France
Best Experimental “INSOMNIA”	AMO	Emmanuel Gras	France
Vitaliano Camarca Audience Award	An Irish goodbye	Tom Berkeley and Ross White	United Kingdom
La Grotta dei Piccoli Award	It was only a rock that looked like someone	Matisse Gonzalez	Mexico/Bolivia
Nonna Saveria Award	The other end of the street	Kálmán Nagy	Austria
Guarimberos Award	Romeo	Sara G. Cortijo	Spain
2022
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	The Criminals	Serhat Karaaslan	Turkey
Best Animation	Bestia	Hugo Covarrubias	Chile
Best Documentary	Salvo	Federico Cammarata	Italy
Best Music Video	Summer 91	Rupert Holler	Austria
Best Experimental “INSOMNIA”	Motorcyclist's happiness won't fit into his suit	Gabriel Herrera	Mexico
Vitaliano Camarca Audience Award	Like the Ones I Used to Know	Annie St-Pierre	Canada
La Grotta dei Piccoli Award	Bye Little Block!	Éva Darabos	Hungary
Nonna Saveria Award	Lili Alone	Zou Jing	China
Guarimberos Award	Los Colores del Niño Dios	Santiago Pérez Rodríguez	Colombia
2021
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	The Unseen River	Phạm Ngọc Lân	Vietnam
Best Animation	Nuevo Rico	Kris Mercado	United-States/Puerto Rico
Best Documentary	Just A Guy	Shoko Hara	Germany/Japan
Best Music Video	Never Ever	Evgeniv Bakirov	Russia
Best Experimental	Aninsri Daeng	Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke	Thailandia
Vitaliano Camarca Audience Award	3 Meetings Of The Extraordinary Committee	Jones	UK/Bulgaria
La Grotta dei Piccoli Award	Mum Is Pouring Rain	Hugo de Faucompret	France
Nonna Saveria Award	God Was Here!	Raluca Lupascu	Netherlands/Romania
2020
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	El Puente de los Niños Traviesos	Fabián León López	Mexico
Best Animation	Why Slugs have no Legs	Aline Höchli	Switzerland
Best Documentary	All Cats are Gray in the Dark	Lasse Linder	Switzerland
Best Music Video	Traveler	Raman Djafari & Daniel Almagor	Germany
Best Experimental	Don't Know What	Tho-mas Renoldner	Australia
Vitaliano Camarca Audience Award	Maradona's Legs	Firas Khoury	Germany / Palestine
La Grotta dei Piccoli Award	And yet we're not superheroes	Lia Bertels	Belgium / Portugal
Nonna Saveria Award	Year of the robot	Yves Gellie	France / Belgium
2019
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	Fauve	Jérémy Comte	Canada
Best Animation	I'm Going Out for Cigarettes	Osman Cerfon	France
Best Music Video	Not Enough	Bear Damen	Netherlands
Best Documentary	The Migrating Image	Stefan Kruse	Denmark
Best Experimental	Mudanza Contemporánea	Teo Guillem	Spain
La Grotta dei Piccoli Award	Le Mans 1955	Quentin Baillieux	France
Vitaliano Camarca Audience Award	Sisters	Daphne Lucker	Netherlands
Guarimberos Award	Bamboe	Flo Van Deuren	Belgium
Nonna Saveria Award	Tungrus	Rishi Chandna	India
2018
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	Mum, I'm Back	Dimitris Katsimiris	Greece
Best Animation	Wildebeest	Nicolas Keppens & Matthias Phlips	Belgium
Best Documentary	Rewind Forward	Justin Stoneham	Switzerland
Best Music Video	Solicitous	Zuzanna Plisz	Poland
Best Experimental	Don't Call Me a Dick	Olympe De G.	Spain
Audience Award	Bolbol	Khedija Lemkecher	Tunisia
La Grotta Dei Piccoli Award	Big Booom	Marat Narimanov	Russia
Guarimberos Award	Sherry	Eliane Lima	United States
2017
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	Clan	Stefanie Kolk	Netherlands
Best Animation	Ivan's Need	Veronica L. Montaño, Manuela Leuenberger & Lukas Suter	Switzerland
Best Documentary	In The Woods	Thomas Horat & Corina Schwingruber Ilić	Switzerland
Best Music Video	Ghost	Suzanna Plisz	Poland
Audience Award	One seat In The Plane	Khadidiatou Sow	Senegal
2016
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	The Passion Of Judas	David Pantaleón	Spain
Best Animation	Manoman	Simon Cartwright	UK
Best Documentary	I Don't Want To Sleep With You I Just Want To Make You Hard	Momoko Seto	France
Best Music Video	Through My Street	Piet Baumgartner	Switzerland
Audience Award	56	Marco Huertas	Spain / Madagascar / Norway
2015
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	Fragments	Aga Woszczynska	Poland
Best Animation	Roadtrip	Xaver Xylophon	Germany
Best Documentary	Autonomous	Alexander Rynéus & Per Eriksson	Sweden
2014
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	This is Ronald	Jules Comes	Belgium
Best Animation	Pandy	Matúš Vizár	Czech Republic / Slovakia
Best Documentary	L’Ultimo Imperatore – Intervista a Pierino Brunelli	Carlani e Dogana	Italy
2013
Category	Film	Director	Nationality
Best Fiction	Home	Ruslan Magomadov	Russia (Chechen Republic)
Best Animation	Oh Willy...	Emma De Swaef & Marc James Roels	Belgium
Best Documentary	Come To Venice	Benedetta Panisson	Italy
Audience Award	Zombi	David Moreno	Spain

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