- The Co-production and Business Forum keeps its call open until May 3rd
- Distribution and financing of animation projects: central themes of this year’s round tables
- The landscapes of Tenerife and the work of Juan Padrón: starting points for the gifs contest
The Quirino Awards have released the details of the programming for its fourth edition, which will be held online from May 10th to 23rd and in-site from May 27th to 29th at its new headquarters in the city of La Laguna, Tenerife, with the aim of celebrating Ibero-American animation, promoting its development and analyzing the main challenges it faces.
Once again, the Co-production and Business Forum will be the meeting point for Ibero-American animation professionals, after bringing together, in its latest edition, representatives of a hundred companies from 19 countries. Among the participants who have already confirmed their presence for this new edition are Adult Swim, Discovery Kids, Filmin, RTVE, Pakapaka, KiKA, Indie Sales, Toonz Media Group, PGS, Dandelooo, El Reino Infantil and Sola Media, among others.
The Forum offers three ways of participation with the aim of promoting the development, co-production and circulation of Ibero-American animation projects: online (May 19th and 20th); face-to-face (May 28th and 29th); and online + face-to-face. The call ends on May 3rd and is open to animation producers, buyers, distributors, television channels and investors.
The opening of the online event will take place on May 10th and it will be in charge of La Liga de la Animación Iberoamericana (the Ibero-American Animation League), the alliance of animation events integrated by Animation! Ventana Sur, Pixelatl and the Quirino Awards. The presentation will also include the pitch of “Olivia and the Shadows”, a feature film project directed by Juan Carve and produced by Uruguayan Chucho.tv, winner of the 2020 La Liga Award.
From that day until May 23rd, the finalists for Best Short Film and Best School Short Film will be available for screening on Retina Latina and Filmin platforms.
Among the activities planned for professionals, and within the commitment of the Quirino Awards to help strengthen and structure the sector, two round tables will be organized that will be broadcasted online through the Quirino Awards Facebook Live and whose central theme will be the distribution and financing of projects.
On Tuesday May 11th, Christophe Vidal (deputy general director of Natixis Coficiné), Yago Fandiño (director of children’s content of RTVE), Marta Hernández Calzada (financial director of the production company Tandem Films), and Pato Escala (executive producer of Punkrobot, studio member of the Latin American alliance Los Amigos) will ponder on the different ways of financing animation projects in a talk that will have the participation of Francisco Menéndez Nadal, from WELAW, as moderator.
In the second round table, on Tuesday, May 18th, representatives of three international sales agencies will analyze the changes the sector is facing in terms of animation distribution. The activity will be moderated by Silvina Cornillón (Animation! Ventana Sur) and will feature the participation of Juan Torres (international sales director of Latido Films), Florencia Gasparini (sales executive of Cinema Management Group (CMG) and João Antunes (CEO of Big Picture).
Side by side with the finalists
With the aim of knowing in depth the selected works and their authors, the Quirino Awards present a series of online talks with the finalists of four of the nine award categories.
Dedicated to the finalists in the Best Short Film category, the first program of the cycle will be broadcasted on May 13th and will feature the participation of the directors Carmen Córdoba González (“Roberto”, Spain), Alexandra Ramires (“Tie”, Portugal, France) and Alberto Vázquez (“Homeless Home”, Spain, France).
On May 17th it will be the turn of the finalist studios in the Best Animation for Video Game category: Cadabra Games (“Adore”, Brazil), Tequila Works (“GYLT”, Spain), and Cosmic Brew Studios (“The Antimatter Kid”, Argentina).
For its part, on May 21st the program dedicated to the finalists for Best Series will be broadcasted with the presence of Andrés Lieban, co-director of “Count On Me” (Brazil), Bernardita Ojeda, director of “Petit Season 2” (Chile, Argentina, Colombia), Iván Agenjo, producer of “I, Elvis Riboldi” (Spain, France), and the brothers Emilio and Jesús Gallego, producers of “The Zurfs” (Spain).
The cycle ends on May 24th with the program dedicated to the finalist works in the Best Feature Film category, which will be attended by Miguel Ángel Uriegas, producer of “A Costume for Nicholas” (Mexico), Leopoldo Aguilar, director of “Cranston Academy; Monster Zone” (Mexico, United Kingdom), Germán Acuña Delgadillo, director of “Nahuel And the Magic Book” (Chile, Brazil) and Cristina Pineda Antúnez, producer of “Xico’s Journey” (Mexico).
Tribute to Juan Padrón
In the awards ceremony, which will take place on May 29th at the Teatro Leal of La Laguna and will be broadcasted in streaming for the whole world, a tribute will be paid to the Cuban illustrator, animator and film director Juan Padrón, creator of classics Ibero-American animations such as “Elpidio Valdés” and “Vampires in Havana”. Silvia Padrón, his daughter, will be in charge of attending the tribute and presenting the initiatives that are being promoted for the conservation of her father’s work, such as the La Manigua Cultural and Creative Center in Havana or the publication of “Mi vida en Cuba”, autobiography that the artist himself drew until the end of his days.
Padrón’s work will also be the central theme of the animated gifs contest with landscapes of La Laguna and the island of Tenerife, which will award works in three categories: Best gif from an Ibero-American filmmaker, Best gif from a Tenerife filmmaker and Jury Award. The works of the Ibero-American participants must be inspired by Padrón’s work and in the gif they submit they must make a reference or allusion to his work, his characters, his films or himself. Each award has an economic prize of 300 euros and the bases are available here.
The program is completed with screenings of the finalist feature films and short films at the Aguere Cultural Space and a masterclass at the ULL on concept for animation and video games by the illustrator and concept artist Igor Heras from Monsters Pit, among others.
About the Quirino Awards
The Quirino Awards, which have the main sponsorship of the Cabildo de Tenerife through the Tenerife Film Commission, reflect the determined commitment that for years has been made to animation in the island. This commitment also materializes in concrete actions to support the flourishing local industry, assistance to the main international markets and the promotion of the “Tenerife Isla Cartoon” brand, specific to this sector.
The initiative has the sponsorship of San Cristóbal de La Laguna City Hall, ICEX Spain Trade and Investment Canary Islands Film and PROEXCA; the collaboration of ICAA, Ibermedia Program, RTVE, Tangram Solutions, WELAW, Retina Latina, Filmin, Casa de América and Culturamanía; and the support of DIBOOS, SAVE, Pixelatl, Animation! Ventana Sur, Weird Market, La Liga de la Animación Iberoamericana (the Ibero-American Animation League), La Mesta, Pantalla, Clúster Audiovisual of Canarias and Annecy Festival, as well as the associations: APA – Association of Animation Producers of Cordoba Argentina; Animar Cluster – Argentine Animation Cluster & VFX; ABCA – Associação Brasileira de Cinema de Animação; Animachi Chile; Bolivian Animators Network; GEMA Colombia – Animation Entrepreneurs Group; Animation Costa Rica; Guild of Animators of Ecuador; ACDMX – Association of Digital Creatives of Mexico; Paraguay Animation; Peru Animation and Casa da Animaçao of Portugal.
The awards are named after the creator of the first animated feature film in history, the Italian-Argentine Quirino Cristiani, who in 1917 directed “El Apostol”.