Alberto Vázquez: Last News

Lise Pedersen Oscar-winning animation film producer Nicolas Schmerkin (“Logorama,” 2010) has revealed his Paris-based outfit Autour de Minuit has signed a pre-development agreement with Franco-German TV channel Arte for its latest project, “Fucking Cat”, which is being pitched at this week’s Cartoon Forum in Toulouse. An adaptation of Belgian author Stéphane Lapuss’ “Putain de Chat” comic book series, “Fucking Cat” tells the story of Moustique, the talking cat, who, like all cats, hates humans and would like to get rid of his master but faces the dilemna of how to become master of the world without giving up his cat food. Both Lapuss and co-author Lionel Bonnal will assist in penning the adaptation. 

Jamie Lang Colombian producer Letrario and Spain’s Abano Producións have unveiled a new 2D animated feature co-production, “Mu-Ki-Ra,” which will be spotlighted at the 2024 Cannes’ Marché du Film Animation Day. “Mu-Ki-Ra” was created by Colombian actress and screenwriter Estefanía Piñeres Duque, who co-wrote the screenplay with María Barro Guntín and is directing.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent “Decorado,” the awaited next animated feature film from Alberto Vázquez, director of 2015’s “Birdboy: The Forgotten Children” and last year’s “Unicorn Wars,” has been boarded by Le Pacte.     One of France’s most important independent film companies, a distributor in France of Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” and Ken Loach’s “I: Daniel Blake” among its biggest foreign hits, Le Pacte, headed by Jean and Alice Labadie, has acquired rights to “Decorado” for distribution in France and international sales. “We picked up ‘Decorado’ because we were in love with ‘Unicorn Wars’ and ‘Decorado is even crazier,” said Jean Labadie. “We love animation and bold projects which are out of boundaries.” 

Gkids has acquired North American rights to Unicorn Wars — the latest genre-bending animated feature from Goya and Annecy Cristal-winning director Alberto Vázquez (Birdboy: The Forgotten Children) — ahead of its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest. The horror-comedy will be released in theaters by Gkids in early 2023, following its domestic release in Spain this fall.

Michaela Zee editor GKIDS has acquired the North American distribution rights to “Unicorn Wars,” ahead of the adult animated film’s U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. The news was announced Thursday. Set during an ancestral war between teddy bears and unicorns, the horror-comedy film follows Bluet and Tubby, teddy bear brothers who are polar opposites to each other. When their time at teddy bear bootcamp leads to a combat tour in the Magic Forest, Bluet and Tubby’s complicated history and tense relationship could affect the fate of the war, including whether the teddy bears will fulfill the prophecy and usher in a new era. “Unicorn Wars” is directed and written by illustrator Alberto Vázquez. Prior to this deal, GKIDS distributed Vázquez’s Goya Award-winning feature “Birdboy: The Forgotten Children” and animated short “Decorado.”

Emilio Mayorga “Unicorn Wars” (Alberto Vázquez)Alberto Vázquez, the director of “Birdboy: The Forgotten Children,” a Gkids pickup for North America, delivers an apocalyptic anti-war parable narrating the ancestral war between teddy bears bigots and environmentalist unicorns with irreverent visual exuberance and moments of real horror.WIP’S“They Shot the Piano Player” (Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal)Trueba and Mariscal’s much-awaited new collaboration after their 2012 Oscar-nominated “Chico & Rita” is a co-production with France, Portugal, the Netherlands and Peru. Sold by Film Constellation, project threads “music, politics and documentary as well as fiction, thriller and memory,” Trueba has said.

Emilio Mayorga Roc Espinet“I’m a big fan of 2D, keeping a handcrafted look and strong emotions, like in Ghibli movies. Having said that, I always want to complement it with a contemporary narrative concept and bold and crazy camera movements,” Catalan animator Espinet says.

Holly Jones Following the success of his dystopian coming-of-age tale “Birdboy,” Spanish illustrator Alberto Vázquez brings another graphic novel to the big screen with his highly anticipated second feature “Unicorn Wars.” The film takes place between two worlds: an unscrupulous and industrial bear Bootcamp, where foul-mouthed pastel warriors prepare for battle, and a serene enchanted forest where black-hued and majestic unicorns frolic alongside pristine tree-lined lakes. The tone grows ever more ominous as the cavalry ride through the woods, drawing nearer, forcing the docile creatures to defend their coveted surroundings.Sold internationally by Charades and distributed by UFO, “Unicorn Wars” is an apt depiction of humanity’s folly leading to internal and external conflict.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentTwo of the most awaited European animation films of the year – Alberto Vázquez’s “Unicorn Wars” and Pierre Foldes’ “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” –  look set to world premiere in competition at France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the biggest animation festival in the world.Sneak peeks at Annecy’s Work in Progress strand, its industry cornerstone, include Cartoon Network’s “Unicorn: Warriors Eternal,” from legendary U.S.

Ben Croll Returning to in-person gatherings after last year’s online event, this year’s Cartoon Movie pitch and co-production forum saw the teams behind 57 animated features pitch their development projects before 930 European industry delegates from 19 countries. Running over March 8 – 10 in the southwest city of Bordeaux in France, this year’s forum saw both international buyers (totalling 297 overall – a 12% increase from the previous edition) and adult skewing projects notch upward – two facts not wholly unrelated.Whether on purpose or by some happy twist of fate, the four beneficiaries of this year’s Cartoon Movie Tribute Awards reflected a pair of key industry trends.At an event where one third of the pitch projects were based on preexisting material, it was thus fitting that adaptation “Even Mice Belong in Heaven” — directed by Denisa Grimmová & Jan Bubeníček, co-produced by Czechia’s Fresh Films, France’s Les Films du Cygne, Slovakia’s Cinemart and Poland’s Animoon – would win for Producer of the Year, and that the graphic novel inspired “Melvile” – directed by Romain Renard and Fursy Teyssier, produced by Belgium’s Need Productions and co-produced by France’s Creative Touch and Special Touch Studios – would claim the Eurimages Co-Production Development award.

Cartoon Movie Croissants Breakfast – a video clip prompting approving whoops and hollers – Spanish-French animated feature “Unicorn Wars” saw its poster and first stills unveiled at the presentation which looks like an early highlight at this year’s meet. Yohann Comte, co-founder of Charades, the film’s sales agent, also confirmed at the unveil that “Unicorn Wars” has sold to Japan’s Riskit. UFO Distribution handles the feature’s release in France, Barton Films distributes in Spain.The film is just a few weeks off completion, said Miñambres.

Emilio Mayorga Rémi Chayé’s “Fleur,” Claude Barras’ “You’re Not the One I Expected” and Alberto Vázquez’s  “Unicorn Wars” are some of the multiple potential standouts at the 24th Cartoon Movie, Europe’s leading animated movie co-production event.Scheduled to take place in Bordeaux, France, over March 8-10, the 2022 Cartoon Movie lineup features 57 projects, 15 from France, seven less than last year as animation grows in the rest of Europe but still a mark of its predominance in Europe as a producer of arthouse or crossover animated movies.For the third year running, Spain has the second largest presence at Cartoon Movie with eight titles, a sign of its build as a significant animation producer and host of animation events, such as

Emilio Mayorga UFO Distribution has taken French rights on the Charades-sold “Unicorn Wars,” an Alberto Vázquez apocalyptic fantasy tale that got a Work in Progress session on Thursday at the Annecy Animation Festival.UFO was tempted to pick up the rights for “Birdboy: The Forgotten Children” years ago, Stéphane Auclaire at UFO Distribution told Variety, adding: “The universe developed in ‘Unicorn Wars’ is less black, more colorful, ‘funnier,’ and fits perfectly to code transgressions – here, the childhood teddy bears which go to war– regularly addressed in the films we release, as was the case with Christopher Morris’ ‘4 Lions’ or the films by Quentin Dupieux (‘Rubber,’ ‘Wrong Cops’) or Bertrand Mandico (‘Altered Innocence,’ or soon

Jamie Lang On Wednesday, the Annecy Animation Festival hosted a live, in-person Work in Progress panel for Spanish filmmaker Alberto Vázquez’s “Unicorn Wars” at the Salle Pierre Lamy, perhaps indicating that the world is healing. Joining Vázquez on stage were his Oscar-winning Autor de Minuit producer Nicolas Schmerkin, Spanish producer Chelo Loureiro from Abano Producións, and “Unicorn Wars” technical supervisor Fiona Cohen.“Unicorn Wars” unspools amidst a prophesized apocalyptic war between religious zealot teddy bears and pragmatic, environmentalist unicorns who have fought for as long as anyone alive can remember.

Emilio Mayorga Eduardo Rivero’s debut feature “A Costume for Nicholas,” Bernardita Ojeda’s “Petit Season Two” and Alberto Vázquez’s “Homeless Home” won big at Saturday’s 4th Quirino Awards, which prize animated films and series from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.Winners picked up their plaudits at a on-site ceremony held at La Laguna in Spain’s Canary islands.

Jamie Lang Among Ventana Sur’s most buzzed titles, and a strong indicator of the heft that animation production now carries, “Unicorn Wars” from Alberto Vazquez (“Birdboy: The Forgotten Children,” “Homeless Home”), holds the unique distinction of being the first-ever non Latin American animated film to feature at the Argentine event’s Animation! Sidebar.Having participated at several high-profile international festivals and markets since development, the blood-soaked, cotton candy fantasy feature was picked up by “I Lost My Body” sales agent Charades, which will be looking for distributors at this week’s Ventana Sur. Uniko and Abano Producións in Spain produce with Autour de Minuit and Schmuby Productions from France.

Emilio Mayorga Paris-based arthouse outfit Autour de Minuit, producer of Oscar-winning toon short “Logorama,” will produce toon feature “Spitsbergen” and medium-length “Return to Nix,” both to be directed by Suzie Templeton, who won as Academy Award and Annecy Cristal  for”Peter & the Wolf”).