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.
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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
Cartoons Underground 2019 Tickets
Get Your Tickets Here! Cartoons Underground in partnership with Sideshow celebrates its 8th year with a new set of awards for the best animation from the region and the world. Celebrating our 8th year, 19 works have been selected from 1,416 entries submitted from 80 different countries and will be competing for the Golden Durian Awards featuring…
Filmmaker Interview – Experience Old Hong Kong With Esther Cheung’s In Passing
Esther Cheung is an artist who is based in Toronto and is a recent Sheridan College graduate. In Passing is a film that she worked on during her final year there, it portrays 70s Hong Kong through the eyes of her parents. With a strong liking and appreciation for Art and Cinema, she finds Animation…
CU19: Film Selection
Cartoons Underground is happening on 9th November, 6PM at Kult Yard! Get Your Tickets Here! This year, 19 works are selected from 1,416 entries submitted from 80 different countries. Out of these 19 films, 6 student films coming from LASALLE College of the Arts and Nanyang Technological University, will compete for the ‘Best Singapore Student…
CU19: Thank you for your submissions!
See the film selection of CU19 here! We received a total of 1,416 entries for our 8th annual Cartoons Underground in Singapore. The selection process has started and the official film selection will be announced in August 2019. Selected films will be presented in 2 sections: International Competition and Singapore Student Animation. There will also…
2018 Cartoons Underground
Southeast Asia’s first and largest underground animation festival is back! Get Your Tickets Here! We are back! Cartoons Underground celebrates more than half a decade of independent, underground, adult-friendly animation for you adult-kids! Get ready for heart palpitating scenes, and plots that will drive you to the edge of the seat! In our 7th year,…
Have a chat with the poster designer for CU 2018 – Ben Tan!
Ben Tan, the poster designer for Cartoons Underground 2018 Name: Ben Tan Where do you live: Singapore 1. Tell us more about how you got started as an artist? I think this is a rather premature question because I’m not really an artist, or at least not yet- I’m only 19. But I…









