BitBang Festival Internacional de Animación (12)

Début du Festival: 27 octobre 2026      Fin du Festival: 31 octobre 2026

BITBANG International Animation Festival opens its call for entries and invites you to be part of its twelfth edition, which will take place in October 2026, in person, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

BITBANG is a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards® (Oscars). The winners of the Bitbang Official Competition, in the categories of Best International Short Film and Best Latin American Short Film, will be automatically eligible to enter the OSCARS® Short Film competition.

BITBANG disseminates and promotes innovative, experimental and authorial proposals through projections, exhibitions and competitions. We promote audiovisual creation in Argentina, orientated towards the development and consolidation of the industry as a cultural contribution on a worldwide level.

We place special emphasis on training and capacitation, for that during BITBANG there are being held masterclasses, seminars, conferences and workshops. In addition to that, there are laboratories, spotlights, retrospectives, illustration contests, installations, exhibitions, making a film in 24 hours, and thematic parties. All screenings are with free admission.

Since 2015 we have organized BITBANG, a unique experience that each edition allows all those interested in art, creativity and innovation, to meet with the most important referents in the country and the world. It is a meeting point that enables collaboration between artists from different disciplines and generates the construction of new languages and other perspectives.

In previous years, the venues were CCK, Planetarium Galileo Galilei, Espacio INCAA Km 0 Gaumont, C3 Museum, Borges Cultural Center, Recoleta Cultural Center, Cosmos Uba Cinema, Da Vinci School, Otra Historia Club Cultural, Local, Club Lucero, C Complejo Art Media, Deseo, Dune Park, La Paz Arriba, Bar El Destello, Arcade Club Social, in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Also we held BITBANG in different parts of Argentina, spreading the best of Argentinean and International Animation.

In this 12th Edition BITBANG welcomes you to these artistic proposals and to the fans and professional audiovisual community.

AWARDS BITBANG ANIMATION 2026

Best International Animated Short Film

Best Latin American Animated Short Film

Best Latin American Animated School Short Film

ANIMATION

CATEGORIES IN ANIMATION COMPETITION

International Animated Short Film Competition

Latin American Animated Short Film Competition

Latin American Animated School Short Film Competition

RULES

1. TERMS AND CONDITIONS

BITBANG 2026 opens its call for submissions of animation work in the 3 competing categories included in the contest.

1.1 Participants can apply either in an individual basis or as a team; must be at least 18 years old and of any nationality. Submitted works must be done under this guideline and following the technical requirements demanded for their future exhibition.

1.2 Participation is free of charge for Latin America for Early Deadline (April 15th) and Regular Deadline (June 10th); the cost for Late Deadline (June 30th) is 5 USD. The cost for the participation for International Short Films and International Graduation Short Films are: 10 USD (Early Deadline: April 15th) / 14 USD (Regular Deadline: June 10th) / 18 USD (Late Deadline: June 30th)

1.3 Submission is open for any animation technique artwork released after January 1st 2025.

1.4 The duration of the short films should not exceed 25 minutes.

1.5 Any genre is accepted, including documentary. The films must be animated. Hybrid projects are allowed, provided that animation constitutes more than 75% of the short film.

1.6 Animation Techniques: Entries are open to any animation technique.


2. DEADLINE FOR APPLYING

2.1 Application period is from March 16th 2026 to June 30th 2026.


3. CATEGORIES IN COMPETITION

International Animated Short Film Competition.

Latin American Animated Short Film Competition (Including Argentina).

Latin American Animated School Short Film Competition (including Argentina).

3.1 International Animated Short Film Competition

Official selection oriented to the exhibition of International Animated Short Films.

This category gives the winner the award to Best International Animated Short Film.

3.2 Latin American Animated Short Film Competition (Including Argentina)

Competition aimed at exhibiting Latin American Animated Short Films, including Argentina.

This category gives the winner the award to Best Latin American Animated Short Film.


3.3 Latin American Animated School Short Film Competition

Competition aimed at exhibiting International Animated Short Films made within the institutional framework of Schools, Universities or Professional Institutions.

This category gives the winner the award to Best Latin American Animated School Short Films.


4. REGISTRATION, SUBMISSION AND SELECTION OF ARTWORK

4.1 The artwork can be registered through the Application Platform Festhome during the subsmission process.

4.2 Entries submitted will be evaluated by the Festival Committee who will judge and determine which entries will participate in each category. The committee's decision is final and not subjected to appeal.

4.3 By entering the contest and submitting artwork, participants agree to abide by the Rules of the Festival. Furthermore, the participants confirm that they own the rights to the work submitted and that they authorize its exhibition at the Festival, which will be held in Buenos Aires. The participant also confirms that he or she has received full explicit authorization from the owner(s) of any copyrighted elements not in their property appearing either fully or in part on their artwork submitted that fall under Intellectual Property Protection, either National or International Law. Additionally, the participant agrees that any situation arising from the use of Intellectual Property of a third party fully conforms to the terms and conditions on this document.

“Authorization of use of a copyrighted work” shall be understood as permission given by the author or copyright holder of said copyrighted work in any contractual form for the use of the copyrighted work according to the terms established by Intellectual Property Law.

4.4 The organization of the Festival reserves the right to make the decisions it deems pertinent regarding situations not expressly provided for in these rules.


5. JURY

5.1 The Jury shall be composed of professionals from multiple areas of the field of animation, including filmmakers, producers, cultural managers, journalists, directors and members of national and international entities associated with the Festival.

5.2 Individuals directly related to any of the participant entries shall be disqualified from being part of the Jury.

5.3 The Jury's decision is final and not subjected to appeal.


6. OFFICIAL SELECTION

6.1 Official selection will be published on the website www.bitbangclub.com and will be notified by email.


6.2 When submitting the selected artwork, participants authorize the use of trailers or extracts of the work (supplied by the representative of the selected items), to carry out the promotion of the Official Competition of the Festival.

6.3 The artwork that becomes part of the Final Selection will receive the recognition as such by the BITBANG.

6.4 Finalists will be notified by email, where they shall receive the formal instructions regarding the formats, deadlines, place and manner of sending the selected artwork for public display during the days of the festival.

6.5 The final material must be delivered within the stipulated deadlines, otherwise the work will be disqualified .

6.6 The final version, if it is in a language other than Spanish, must be sent together with its respective subtitles in Spanish (or if failing, in english). subtitles must be delivered separately from the video: in text file or subtitle format (Ex: * .srt)

6.7 For the finalists, the Festival will not cover transportation and/or accommodation costs to attend the event. However, the Festival may provide letters of support to manage the necessary resources before institutions that favor the assistance of those finalists.

6.8 The Festival will not pay for the right of exhibition (screening fee) of the final artwork selected.
In turn, the festival guarantees that all functions have free admission for the public.


7. VOLUNTARY AUTHORIZATION TO PARTICIPATE IN ITINERANT SAMPLE

7.1 BITBANG performs free activities of exhibition of animation, videogames and digital art during the year. The participants who register their artwork also accepts, except declared the contrary, their exhibition in traveling exhibitions of the Festival, Film Cycles, etc. These activities will always be free and respond only to dissemination and promotion of animated films, video games and digital art.

8. Participation in the Festival implies full acceptance of this regulation. The Festival will resolve according to its judgement and in an unappealable character, any eventuality not specified in these bases.