Move over, Pixar. If you’ve got some time between now and Sunday and you love animation, La Tribu is the place to be. With a selection of short animated films hailing from Argentina, Germany, Mexico, Spain and Chile, the second international animation festival, Cartón, offers a relaxed atmosphere for enjoying alternative films in a whole new way and—the best part—all for free.

People milled about the auditorium at La Tribu (Lambaré 873) late Wednesday afternoon. Some sat at tables and others on sofas. The espresso machine rumbled from time to time. Short animated films from across the world lit up the screen to the front of the auditorium—short stories in flash, stop motion and traditional animation. A world of fantasy, sometimes innocent but often morbid, comedy, strange creatures and futuristic dreams… Plus a zombie or two.

After its first successful edition last year, it’s time for the sequel of Cartón, an independent animated film festival sponsored by Caloi with the support of Argentina’s film institute, INCAA. While Córdoba has had a successful animation festival for several years (ANIMA), Cartón is the first gathering in Buenos Aires to explore the myriad forms of animation together with animated filmmakers, sketch artists, story writers and the entire community.

In addition to the films themselves, Cartón also includes talks, workshops and live “animated” entertainment. At 11pm on Friday, MaXi Bear Zi, a sketch artist, animator and musician will present his projections to music—live. Saturday is the day for independent comic book artists, with a chance to speak with the creators of different local comic books and purchase a title or two. At 4pm on Saturday afternoon, Nuria Lamfir and Irene Blei from the Film Workshop “El Mate” will offer a workshop for children ages 7-15. A little later that same day, at 7.30pm, Patricia Gualpa and Juan Sgró offer an animation workshop open to all ages; participants are asked to bring only a flashlight, which will be the main tool for creating individual animations.

Cartón runs until Sunday 26th August, with screenings of the winning shorts (and live music) at Cine Cosmos (Corrientes 2046) at 11pm. Visit www.fmlatribu.com/festival for the dates and times of the different sections and activities. Bear in mind that many of the activities could start later than the scheduled time—it’s that kind of festival. All events are free and open to the public.

A new statue of cartoon favorite Isidoro Cañones by Dante Quinterno was unveiled Friday 20th July in San Telmo on the corner of Chile and Balcarce. This is the second such statue to be placed in San Telmo, the first being Mafalda in 2009 just up the block, at the corner of Chile and Defensa. Eventually, there will be ten statues through San Telmo, leading to Moreno and Paseo Colon where you can pick up a free city bike to ride across Puerto Madero to the Museo del Humor along Avenida de Los Italianos. Along with cartoonist Manuel Garcia Ferre, the Buenos Aires city government was out in full force, with city mayor Mauricio Macri, deputy mayor María Eugenia Vidal, minister of culture Hernana Lombardi, and Cabinet Chief Horacio Rodríguez Larreta all in attendance to unveil the statue. Manuel Garcia Ferre, a famous Argentine cartoonist, responsible for ‘SuperHijitus’, ‘Ico, the brave horse’ and ‘Anteojito’ and more was on hand to represent cartoonists and the Museo del Humor. A dixieland jazz style music band, dressed in red and white pin-striped suits, set the jovial tone for the afternoon’s event. Photographer Beatrice Murch snapped these up.

This is not pixar. It’s Cartón.

Festival Internacional de Cortos de Animación La Tribu, or simply Cartón as it’s been named, opened yesterday and runs until Sunday 6th November. Aimed specifically at amateur and recreational filmmakers, it’s the only Argentine festival dedicated to the celebration of independent animation.

In a city as big as Buenos Aires, you might imagine there’d be similarly minded festivals going on but you’d be wrong. Which is why, as the only festival with such strong independent roots, event organisers have high hopes for Cartón.

With this week serving as the festival’s debut, it’s an enthusiasm obviously shared by many. The event has garnered support from almost a dozen sponsors including ‘Anima’, a bi-annual animation festival held in Córdoba, which steals the title of the biggest in Latin America.

Event organizer Agustín Sinibaldi, explained that the idea sprang from a program on community radio channel La Tribu, which featured discussions about comics and short film. Rising to demand, Cartón combines the two.

With a focus on short animated film, the festival showcases the techniques of traditional computer generated, stop-motion and flash animation, in free public screenings held over the next four evenings.

The films themselves were submitted in response to a contest held by La Tribu, and selected from some 100 entries. Featuring films from animators in as many as 13 different countries, the agenda for the screenings sees them divided in to genres of comedy, drama, terror, music video clip, and children’s, and promises flash animations as short as one minute next to stop-motions of an incredible 18 minutes.

To qualify for entry into the contest, all films had to meet criteria of less than 30 minutes in length and, if Spanish was not the original language, had to include subtitles for easy judging. Four of the industry’s big names, including award-winning animator Juan Pablo Zaramella, will decide a winner in each category of production, based on content and technique.

Sinibaldi explained that outside of festivals such as Cartón, the internet is the most common place for people to stumble across or share independent animation and is one of the few ways many bedroom animators reach an audience. For many, this is the first time their work has been shown in a public forum, and for the winners, guaranteed appreciation and the opportunity to gain recognition is sufficient a prize. Many of the animators are more than satisfied with the exposure and the enjoyment of coming together in the festival environment.

Animation as we knew it before computers (Photo courtesy of Cartón)

Last night saw the bohemian bar at La Tribu community radio converted into a makeshift cinema. The neon walls burst to life as animators, directors, producers, illustrators, and fans alike, gathered to share and promote animated film as a medium for communication and expression of artistic ideas and techniques.

If you’re thinking of going along but worried that your Spanish isn’t up to scratch, Sinibaldi assures that the visual nature of the festival makes it fun. Whilst it’s true that cartoons are rooted in culture and language, Cartón showcases animation from Latin America and all over the world, without falling victim to language barriers. “The festival creates a way to learn about other cultures through art,” he says. “Even with the cultural code, there’s something universal about cartoons. It’s something that doesn’t need words, just images and sounds.”

Between now and Sunday, what you get besides an animation overload, is four evenings of screenings, discussions, book presentations and talks by some of the festivals sponsors and animation schools. There’s even a drawing workshop; but if you’ve always wanted to learn how to draw like a professional, you’re out of luck. Tagged onto Saturday afternoon’s ‘Infantile’ section, and with the promise of cookies, this one’s only for budding animators eight years old and upward.

And what about the kids? While cartoons are normally associated with children, the alternative and adult content in some of last night’s previews suggests that outside of Saturday afternoon, this might not be the place to bring them. But if you’re looking to relive the Argentine childhood you never had, there will be weekend appearances from kid’s favourite Hijitus, along with other classic and not so classic characters from Argentina’s animation archives.

The winning films will be announced at the festival finale, which takes place on Sunday at Cine Cosmos, the cinema of the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA). The selected films will be shown for a second time following a screening of Argentine cartoon ‘Mono Relojero’. The oldest surviving animation reel in Argentina’s cartoon history, it follows the adventures of a clockwork monkey, and will be accompanied by a live score from the aptly named ‘Chancho a Cuerda’ orchestra, which translates as the wind up pig.

With its edgy setting and alternative, independent character, Cartón is the festival for amateur artists, who might see their passion for animation endure an eight hour day and still find the energy to translate it in to the sometimes painstaking work of creating a cartoon.

Uniting directors, producers, filmmakers, artists, illustrators and animators who might not otherwise have met, Cartón offers a prime opportunity to network and connect, and most of all, brings the bedroom animators out of their bedrooms.