WIA’s Stories x Women Program Champions Diversity

variety.com:

Lise Pedersen Alongside its annual World Summit at the Annecy Int’l Animation Festival, Women in Animation (WIA) has launched the inaugural edition of Stories x Women, a program aimed at increasing the diversity of voices in animation around the world.Six delegations of filmmakers selected among a pool of candidates from emerging animation communities in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America have presented their projects to industry experts in Annecy this week.The two-member teams, which have to include at least one woman leading the project as director, producer or screenwriter, benefited from mentoring sessions with internationally acclaimed animation experts as well as one-to-one coaching sessions ahead of the Annecy pitch.

This first edition features filmmakers from Argentina, Colombia, Peru, South Africa, India and Thailand.“La Sombra del Altiplano (“Highland’s Shadow”) is an Argentine project led by first-time director Paula Boffo, co-directed and produced by Annecy regular Patricio Plaza (“El Empleo” Annecy 2010, “Padre” Annecy 2014) of Ojo Raro studios.Based on a graphic novel of the same name by Boffo, which won several national prizes in Argentina, it tells the story of Juana, an indigenous teenage girl from the Argentinian Highlands, whose sister is abducted by a trafficking ring.

To rescue her, Juana makes a deal with dark spirits. As she turns into an anti-heroine and her power increases, so does her thirst for blood and vengeance, pushing her to the limits of her own humanity.“Cotton Bottom Town” is a Colombian film directed and produced by Luisa Fernanda Velasquez, with Andrés Felipe Rodriguez co-directing.