Quirino Awards: Last News

Emilio Mayorga Alberto Vázquez’s “Unicorn Wars” is an Annecy  competition frontrunner. “They Shot the Piano Player,” from Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, weighs in as one of the festival’s most anticipated works in progress.A bevy of Annecy MIFA unveils and score of Spanish titles, sometimes sneak peeked at other events, form part of a historic growth on Spain’s animation scene.At March’s Cartoon Movie, only France had a larger number of titles than Spain.

Jamie Lang The Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards are entering a new era with the appointment of Argentine Silvina Cornillón as the new director. Cornillón, a pivotal figure in the animation industry for over two decades, steps into the role following her tenure as an ambassador in Latin America and coordinator of the Quirino Awards Residency. Cornillón’s appointment comes at a time when the Quirino Awards have received a record number of submissions for their upcoming eighth edition.

Callum McLennan The seventh edition of the Quirino Awards, an annual event dedicated to promoting animation in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, saw Spain win five of the 10 awards on offer. Housed in the Teatro Leal, in the Canary Island’s Santa Cruz de Tenerife, an eclectic and, at times, musical gala concluded an upbeat Quirino Awards. Pablo Berger‘s first foray into animation, the Oscar-nominated “Robot Dreams,” continued its charge, winning awards for best feature film and sound design.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Fotosíntesis Media, a Mexican pioneer in cause-driven entertainment, has unveiled “Ch’ulel,” a 2D fantasy adventure animated feature for 6-8s tapping into the mindset of Tzeltal community. Mexico City-based, Fotosíntesis Media burst onto the scene in 2015, launched by Cannes-winning director Carlos Reygadas and producer Jaime Romandia and director-producer Miguel Angel Uriegas.

Holly Jones Seeking to recharge the animation sector in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, regional fund Ibermedia touted its latest initiative at Annecy, following its May reveal at the Quirino Awards.  Ibermedia Next, a funding scheme seeking to back innovation and ingenuity into upcoming productions, enjoyed a strong boost at MIFA, with Quirino Awards executive producer José Luis Farias hosting a conference Thursday detailing its merits and outlining the application process, alongside several networking opportunities. Assessment Committee and Consultancy members, who’ll select grant-receiving projects and guide their development, were also revealed.

Callum McLennan Top Argentina’s free-to-air channel Pakapaka has inked a deal with Paris-based animation house Dandelooo on award-winning series “Jasmine & Jambo,” to be broadcast on the Argentine government funded channel dedicated to children’s content.  Melissa Vega, international sales manager at Dandelooo told Variety, “Jasmine and Jambo is an amazing series that is doing great internationally. Pakapaka is the perfect home for the series.” “Jasmine & Jambo,” a 26-part series spangled with humour and musical notes, is designed to engage both upper preschoolers and their parents. It is the brainchild of Barcelona-based company Teidees and Catalan broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya. At the helm of the show is Silvia Cortés, co-founder of Teidees. “Jasmine & Jambo” bagged the best international series at the Festival Ecran Jeunesse and secured a nomination for the Quality in Children’s TV Worldwide award at the prestigious Prix Jeunesse International. 

Callum McLennan The sixth edition of the Quirino Awards, an annual event dedicated to the promotion of animation in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, saw a triumph for Portuguese cinema, with animations from the country taking home four of the nine awards.  The Quirino Awards also proved a veritable showcase of Portugal’s rich animation history– apt as the event also marked the centenary of animation in Portugal.  The feature film “Nayola,” helmed by Portuguese director José Miguel Ribeiro, walked off with the best feature film award.  The film, a Praça Filmes production, is a moving depiction of three generations of Angolan women grappling with the aftermath of the civil war that devastated their country in the late 20th century. Ribeiro’s first feature, “Nayola,” which premiered in main competition at the Annecy Animation Festival in 2022, is based on the play “A Caixa Preta” by Eduardo Agualusa and Mia Coutode. Its bold color palette, and melding of myth and a female perspective on the traumas of war clearly struck the jury. 

Emilio Mayorga Cesar Cabral’s “Bob Spit: We Do Not Like People,” Roy Ambriz and Arturo Ambriz’s  “Frankelda’s Book of Spooks,” and “Beast” topped the 5th Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards, which took place May 14 at San Cristóbal de La Laguna, on the Canary Island of Tenerife.It’s no coincidence that the three main prizes have gone to stop-motion works. The plaudits offer further proof of a growing mastery of this technique in Latin America, as well as then high level and extraordinary artistic diversity of animation titles coming to of Latin America, which is increasingly acknowledged on international markets.Produced by Coala Filmes and Cup Films in Brazil, “Bob Spit: We Do Not Like People” was also nominated for the recent Platino Awards and took the 2021 Contrechamp Award at the Annecy Int’l Film Festival.

Spain trails only France in the number of animated projects set to pitch in March at Bordeaux’s 2022 Cartoon Movie, a key international event for the artform.Spanish producers will bring 10 feature projects to the event, including two from Lorena Ares and Carlos Fernández de Vigo in “Moonbeam” and “DinoGames,” María Trenor’s “Rock Bottom,” Lorenzo Degl’Innocenti and Xosé Zapata’s “Draw” and Carmen Córdoba’s “A World of Their Own.”From the slate, four are international co-productions, two boast budgets more than €8 million ($9.04 million) and seven of the 10 projects are aimed at adult audiences, mirroring a recent global trend. With a glut of projects currently in the works from Spain, several other possible gems include Pablo Berger’s Elle Driver-sold “Robot Dreams,” Warner Bros. España and 4 Cats Pictures’ co-production “Mummies,” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s “They Shot the Piano Player” – sold by Film Constellation – Salvador Simó’s SC Films Intl.-sold “Dragonkeeper,” and the third release from the popular “Tadeo Jones” franchise.Spain has a long and solid tradition in animation, particularly in developing talent.