Roberto Catani (Jesi, 1965) is an animator and illustrator. Since 1989 he has taught Animated Drawing at the Istituto Statale d'Arte 'Scuola del Libro" in Urbino He has been making animated films since 1995. His films 'La sagra I The festival" (1998), "La funambola I The tightrope walker"(2002) and "La testa tra le nuvole I Absent Minded" (2013) were awarded at the most important international animation film festivals. including Espinho, New York, Zagreb, Annecy, Ljubljana, Hiroshima, Krakow, Dresden, 'Nastro d'argento", IAFF Krok and Kinodot film festival. "La Funambola" was also nominated for Cartoon d'Or in 2002. In 2014 he was awarded a Honorary Degree by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia of Turim.