A travelling event (Trieste, Dobbia, Cervignano, Udine and Pordenone), screenings and master classes, plus a focus on Eastern Europe.

This is what characterises the Piccolo Festival dell'Animazione. Presented at the beginning of the week in Trieste, the Festival has already come alive with the AnimaKids series and AnimaYoung, together with some master classes.

Over the last few days (first in Trieste and then in Venice), high school students from Trieste were able to discover some behind the scenes work in directing and the animation world.

With whom? With Michael Dudok De Wit, Dutch director who became famous and won a number of awards with his first work, “Father and Daughter”.

Dudok De Wit told a few secrets of the trade and revealed the procedures for creating an animated film to a very attentive audience of young people.

The starting point for the meeting was the screening of his latest work “La tartaruga rossa” on Monday evening and Tuesday morning.

A travelling festival, as already mentioned, which will end between 27 and 29 December with different stages in the region: in Trieste, Pordenone and in Udine.

Participation in the screenings of competing films is a good opportunity to get to know the various cities involved.

The first evening will take place in Trieste where, to reach the Cinema-Theatre Miela, located in Piazza Duca degli Abruzzi, you can walk along the seaside rive and reach the heart of the city in just  few steps: Piazza Unità d’Italia is even more fascinating at this time of year because decorated for Christmas.

This will be followed by the evening in Pordenone, where the historic centre is not far from the screening venue (CinemaZero): a visit to the Loggia del Municipio and at the Convent of San Francesco is a must; conferences and open-air screenings are held here in the summer, as well as one of the key parts of the PordenoneLegge festival.

The final evening of the  Piccolo Festival dell’Animazione, with screenings and the awards ceremony, will instead be held at the Visionario in Udine, which is an art cinema but also a venue for live shows.

From the Visionario in a few minutes you can arrive in the historic centre of the city, with Piazza delle Erbe (or San Giacomo, or Matteotti), Piazza Libertà with the Loggia del Lionello, from where you can climb to the enchanting Castle dominating the city, home to several concerts in the summer season and exhibitions in winter.

Precisely during this period, “L’offensiva di carta. La Grande Guerra illustrata, dalla collezione Luxardo al fumetto contemporaneo” (“The paper offensive. The Great War illustrated, from the Luxardo collection to the contemporary comic strip”) is under way, showing the war fought in parallel with the physical one but of no less importance, made up of words and above all of images.