Percebes
2024 · 12m · Portugal / France
Directed by Alexandra Ramires, Laura Gonçalves
Genres: animation, documentary
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
Following the complete life cycle of the goose barnacle (percebes) along Portugal's Algarve coast — from formation on the rocks to the dinner plate — the film weaves documentary voices of local residents to reveal their complex relationship with tourism, tradition, and survival. It uses the shellfish as a poetic lens to examine a coastal culture caught between heritage and the pressures of mass tourism.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Goose barnacle life cycle as structuring device for ethnographic portrait of an Algarve coastal town under tourism pressure, in watercolor animation — eleven minutes of patient regional specificity, no narrative arc. Exactly my register. Yes.
Ramires and Gonçalves using the goose barnacle's life cycle as ethnographic structuring device for a watercolor portrait of an endangered Algarve culture — that is precisely the kind of conceptual-formal economy short animation does best. Eleven minutes; properly composed.
11-minute watercolor-animated ethnographic portrait of Algarve goose-barnacle culture, structured as a life-cycle from rock to plate with woven oral history — IKKI Films production, the formal blend of nature doc + oral history + visual poetry without conventional arc is exactly the kind of structure that wins Annecy. Real form.
Reviews
It's a simple but elegant conceit, which will delight those already fond of the Algarve and give others a new perspective.
Combining impeccable technique, artistic sensitivity, and a keen eye for issues beyond Portugal's borders — a mix of art, anthropology, and social critique reaffirming the power of animation.
Festivals
- Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2024, Cristal for Best Short Film
- Ottawa International Animation Film Festival 2024, Best Design
- Academy Awards (Animated Short Film) 2025