SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 8th March (EUROPA PRESS) –
The seventh edition of the Quirino Awards for Ibero-American Animation will see 25 works from seven countries competing to promote and celebrate animation from the Ibero-American region.
Leading the nominations is Spain with 16, followed by Brazil with 7 and Chile with 3. Argentina, Mexico and Portugal each have two nominations, with Colombia having one.
The announcement of the ten award categories was made on Friday as part of the 27th Malaga Film Festival.
The Quirino Awards are primarily sponsored by the Cabildo de Tenerife, through Turismo de Tenerife.
‘Robot Dreams’ from Spain’s Pablo Berger – competing for the Oscar for Best Animated Film – and the Brazilian short film ‘Lulina ea Lua’ by Marcus Vinicius Vasconcelos and Alois Di Leo lead the nominations with three each.
The winners will be selected by a jury consisting of directors José Miguel Ribeiro (Portugal), Marcela Rincón (Colombia) and Wesley Louis (United Kingdom), along with Zane Valeniece (acquisitions director of Latvian public television LTV) and Emmanuèle Petry (co-founder and producer of the French Dandelooo). The winners will be unveiled on 11th May at Teatro Leal in La Laguna (Tenerife).
The presentation event took place as part of the Animation HUB activities of Spanish Screenings in MAFIZ-Industry Zone at the Malaga Festival (at the UNIA-International University of Andalusia, former Institute of Port Studies of Malaga) where Lope Afonso, vice president of Tenerife Cabildo and Minister of Tourism, Foreign Action and International Relations; Carmen Jordán, director of Fashion, Habitat and Cultural Industries at ICEX; Camilo Vázquez, deputy general director of Promotion and International Relations of the ICAA; Dimple Melwani, CEO of Tenerife Tourism; Annabelle Aramburu, coordinator of MAFIZ-Industry Zone of the Malaga Festival and Bea Bartolomé, director of the ‘Quirino Awards’ were present.
Spanish animation dominates the nominations in the ‘Best Feature Film’ category with three out of four nominations.
HANNA AND THE MONSTERS
‘Hanna and the Monsters’ is a children’s film by Galician director Lorena Ares, featuring an adventurous tale of Hanna, a lovable girl who adores monsters.
Also in the running is the debut feature of director Isabel Herguera, ‘The Sultana’s Dream’, a film inspired by the 1905 feminist science fiction story of the same name, making it the first European animated film to compete in the Official Section of the San Sebastián Festival.
Rounding up the Spanish entries in this category is ‘Robot Dreams’, the fourth film by Pablo Berger from Bilbao, his first animated work, an adaptation of the 2007 graphic novel by illustrator Sara Varon. The film has already received two Goyas and an Annie award and is a finalist for the Oscar for Best Animated Film.
The Argentine film ‘El Paraíso’ by Fernando Sirianni and Federico Moreno Breser, a film noir based on true events, completes the nominees for Best Feature Film.
The nominations in the Best Series category – all developed in 2D animation – are shared between Spain and Brazil.
Following a prior win in this category with ‘Jasmine & Jambo’, Catalan director Silvia Cortés returns with the second season of this musical series catering to preschool audiences.
‘Pobre Diablo’ – an adult animated series by Joaquín Reyes, Miguel Esteban and Ernesto Sevilla – and ‘Sex Symbols’ – a series addressing children and teenagers’ sexual and emotional education directed by Paloma Mora Iñesta and Alex Cervantes – complete the Spanish entries.
BRAZILIAN SERIES
Two Brazilian series are also in contention for the award in this category – ‘O Hotel Silvestre de Ana Flor’ by Andrés Lieban and Alessandro Monnerat, a pair who competed last year in the same category with ‘Conta mí’ and ‘O Menino Maluquinho-Temporada 2’, an adaptation of the renowned comic strip by Brazilian cartoonist Ziraldo directed by Michele Massagli and Beto Gomez.
Achieving gender equality in vital categories such as Feature Film and Animated Series, the Quirino Awards have achieved this milestone for the first time since their inception.
Brazilians Marcus Vinicius Vasconcelos and Alois Di Leo will vie for the Best Short Film award with ‘Lulina ea Lua’, a film already selected for competition at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand festival.
Di Leo makes a return to the Quirino Awards after winning two awards in 2021 with his short film ‘Caminho dos Gigantes’.
From Portugal, ‘Quase me Lembro’ by Miguel Lima and Dimitrije Mihajlovic, which narrates a woman wandering through her childhood memories using various animation techniques.
The final nominee is ‘To Bird or Not to Bird’, in which Galician illustrator, comic book author and director Martín Romero offers a critical and varied perspective on the contemporary world through the experiences of some birds.
In the newly established Best Animation Video category, three works are contending, showcasing Ibero-American animation’s ability to transcend boundaries.
‘All the Best’ is a music video by Pablo Roldán for Siamés, an Argentine electropop band; ‘O Futuro Que Me Alcance’ is a song by poet and musician Reynaldo Bessa animated by Brazilian illustrator and animator Nat Grego and ‘I Inside the Old I Dying’ by Chilean directors Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña (‘La Casa Lobo’, ‘Los Huesos’) brings to life a song from the latest album by English artist PJ Harvey.
The Quirinos will also present awards in categories such as Best Animation School Short Film, Best Commissioned Animation, Best Video Game Animation, and three technical categories: Best Visual Development, Best Animation Design, and Best Sound Design and Original Music.
