Damian Perea: Last News

Jamie Lang Spanish animation is experiencing a historic boom. Shorts and features from the country are achieving notable success at festivals and the box office, while Spanish artists are contributing to some of the most influential film and TV productions coming from Hollywood today. The question now is what steps should be taken to build on recent success.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Animayo, Spain’s leading animation festival, is celebrating its 18th edition with the help of Disney legend Andreas Deja who will be presenting his independently-produced short, “Mushka.” “Having Deja choose Animayo to debut his film in Spain is the greatest honor,” said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which unspools May 3-6 on the island of Gran Canaria. A hand-drawn 2D animated story about an unlikely friendship between a young girl and a Siberian tiger in 1970s’ Soviet Union, “Mushka” is Deja’s directorial debut. His lauded Walt Disney Animation Studio credits include “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”

Anna Marie de la Fuente Starting this year, Spain’s Animayo Gran Canaria will places not one, but two animated short films in the running for an Oscars. Both the winner of Animayo’s International Jury Grand Prize and – effective this 17th edition – and the best Spanish-language animated short will be eligible for consideration in the animated short film category of the Academy Awards.News broke days after the festival wrapped May 7 which saw “Prisoner Outside” by Germany’s Igor Medvedev snag the International Jury Grand award, which includes a cash prize of €3,000 Euros and the aforementioned eligibility for Oscar consideration. Short centers on a long-confined prisoner who uses his imagination to escape from his cell.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Animayo Gran Canaria, Spain’s foremost Canary Islands-based animation festival, is venturing deep into the metaverse with experts in artificial intelligence, virtual reality and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) joining leading voices in animation from major studios, including DreamWorks, Walt Disney, Skydance, Sony Pictures and Platige Image.Some 23 guests will be participating across 14 master classes, three debate panels, three workshops, 10 recruitment sessions and other events at the in-person 17th edition held over May 4-7 in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. An online edition is slated to launch in October. “This year the debates are a novelty because it’s a must to create a meeting forum in this increasingly polarized society,” said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which also encompasses VFX and video gaming.