CARTOONS UNDERGROUND 2024
Get Ready for Southeast Asia’s Biggest Animation Night!
Southeast Asia's largest independent animation festival is back for one electrifying night!
Join us for the Golden Durian Awards, where you’ll meet brilliant directors and vote for your favorite films! With 1,500 submissions from over 90 countries, we’ve curated an exciting lineup of 14 stunning animated shorts from Italy, the US, China, Singapore, and more!
This year, we’re thrilled to highlight the incredible work of Singaporean student filmmakers and artists of Asian heritage with 2 International Programmes and 1 Singapore Student Programme.
Expect bold themes—sex positivity, mental health, comedy, horror, and more—explored through dynamic 2D, 3D, stop-motion animation and the latest animation technology.
Our Latest from Instagram
Our Sponsors
Check out previous EDITIONS!
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME
SINGAPORE STUDENT FILMS
A total of 15 films were selected from an incredible 1,582 entries across 103 different countries. Hailing from all over the world, the submissions showcased a unique variety of voices, themes and stories. The selection in 2023 continued Cartoons Underground's (CU) mission of championing independent animated short films that challenge the medium's boundaries.
Out of this world
Wild Times
In 2022, a total of 16 works were selected from an incredible 1,681 entries submitted from 96 different countries - the highest number of submissions received in the history of the festival. The final selection of films is made of of many high quality films telling unique stories, evoking powerful emotions, tackling mature themes and challenging the animation medium.
Super Humans
Impossible Dreams
Young Ones
Retrospective
Celebrating a decade of animation at Cartoons Underground, we had an exciting line up of 13 carefully chosen films from over 1,000 submissions from 83 countries, and 5 student films from Singapore. Exclusively for our 10th year, we looked back with five films that our audience loved from past editions
2021
OUR BLOG
Verne on Vacation – Pilot Episode – Review
I went in to Sylvain Marc’s “Verne on Vacation” completely blind—I had no idea what to expect except a pilot for a cartoon, and that was it. Upon clicking that ‘play’ button, what immediately struck me were the vibrant colors and textures the world is built with, and second was the lively animation that brings…
Young Talent – Elena and Olivia Ceballos
Cartoons Underground sat down with Elena and Olivia Ceballos, a pair of twin sisters with a flair for art. At the tender age of 21, they’re currently concept artists at Dreamworks Animation, and have amassed many followers over the internet. In this interview, we’ve discussed their inspirations, their aspirations, as well as advice that they…
National Library Board – Design Talks: Singapore Animation – David Kwok, Mark Wee and Cartoons Underground
Last week, Cartoons Underground Co-Founder and Festival Director Vicky Chen spoke at Design Talks: Singapore Animation at Library@Orchard with David Kwok (the CEO of Tiny Island Productions), Michael Lim (the Founder of the Singapore Visual Effects and Animation group), and Mark Wee (Independent Animator) about the fundamentals of IP creation, current trends observed in the…
Industry Professionals – Sylvain Marc
ABOUT THE ARTIST This month, we caught up with Sylvain Marc, a graduate of Estienne and Gobelins. Since graduating in 2006, he has worked as an animator, development artist, character designer and director in various studios like Framestore, Cartoon Network, Laika, Nickelodeon, Sony Pictures Animation, and more. Many of Cartoons Underground’s young followers would like…
Industry Professionals – Alain Ughetto
Cartoons Underground sat down with Alain Ughetto, a seasoned animator, director and filmmaker. We spoke about his inspirations, his career, and his aspirations. We have also talked about Jasmine (2013), a mixed-media animated film that explores love in the midst of a revolution. ABOUT THE ARTIST How did you start your career? A: I first…
Movie Review – Paranorman (2012)
Movie Title: Paranorman Produced by: LAIKA Distributed by : Focus Features Initial Release: August 17, 2012 Directors: Sam Fell, Chris Butler Running Time: 01 h 33 m Screenplay: Chris Butler Story By: Arianne Sutner, Stephen Stone Let’s start these reviews off with the film that got me seriously considering animation as a career and is…