Animation cinema and comics live in Cuba since their origins two parallel lives. Same beginnings, same successes, same delusions, same desires of satisfaction against the critical social  and economical conditions. The first Cuban cartoon is a short film in 35 mm of two minutes with a soundtrack but in black and white. Manuel Alonso signed it in 1937.
The first production firm for animation cinema had birth halfway through the ‘40s in Santiago de Cuba thanks to César Cruz Barrios. It’s the Productora National de Peliculas de Santiago de Cuba that realized its first cartoon in 35 mm totally produced on the national territory.
But it’s after the Castroist Revolution that cartoons seemed to have a major impulse. In fact the Istituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematograficos – ICAIC - (the Cuban Institute for Cinematographic Art and Industry) was founded in the same year of the revoluction (revolution). This Institute will generate a while later a specific section fully dedicated to the cinema of animation. Under the guidance of the ICAIC the cartoons contribute to bring back in front line the educational and formative engagement through information and awakening campaigns on themes directly related to childhood and adolescence.
One of the last products of the ICAIC is in fact a series of animated short films dedicated to the sexual education for young girls which Cartoons on the Bay has the privilege to show to its public this year.
The animation studios of the ICAIC, in despite of the economical troubles and the merciless competition of the neighbours USA, have strengthen their attention to the world of childhood underlining its front line importance in the complex cultural project of Cuba.
Thanks to the foreigner partners and to the talent of main figures such as Juan Padron, the Cuban creativity in the field of animation cartoons had the chance to support the impact of the Western and Japanese competition. Maybe with not comparable aesthetic results but still showing a deserving wilfulness of a recognition such as the Pulcinella Award.