The Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards Announce the Finalists For Their Sixth Edition
Skwigly
The Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards announced today, in Madrid, the finalists for their sixth edition. A total of 21 works from 10 countries will be competing in the nine categories of these awards, created to promote and enhance the value of animation from the Ibero-American region, with the main sponsorship of the Cabildo de Tenerife.
Portugal, Argentina, and Spain top the list of countries with the most nominations with 10, 9 and 8, respectively. Colombia and Uruguay have 2 nominations each, while Brazil, Chile and Peru have one nomination each. Five of the finalists are co-productions between countries in the Ibero-American region, including Ecuador and Mexico.
João Gonzalez’ “Ice Merchants” from Portugal—a work that competes for the 2023 Oscar in the Animated Short Film category—, together with Juan Pablo Zaramella’s “Pasajero” from Argentina, are the titles that have received the most nominations, distributed in four categories. The short film “O Homem do Lixo” and the feature film “Nayola”, both from Portugal, have been nominated in 3 and 2 categories respectively, thus reflecting the international momentum of Portuguese animation.
A jury made up of Andrea Fernández (Chilean, Art Director for The Cuphead Show!), Julio Bonet (Adult Animation Manager for Netflix, UK), Risa Cohen (film and video-game Producer and Executive Producer, US), Robert Jaszczurowski (Producer and Director at GS Animation/Grupa Smacznego, Poland), and Simón Wilches-Castro (Colombian, Creative Director at Titmouse Studios, US) will be in charge of choosing the winners, which will be announced on May 13, in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, on the island of Tenerife.
The presentation ceremony took place at the Embassy of Portugal in Madrid, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Portuguese animation, and was attended by Laura Castro, Island Director of Tourism for the Cabildo de Tenerife; Pablo Conde, Director for Fashion, Habitat and Cultural Industries at ICEX; Camilo Vázquez, Advisor to the Director General of the ICAA; Víctor Herreruela, Technical Unit Coordinator of Ibermedia; João Mira Gomes, Portuguese Ambassador to Spain; and Bea Bartolomé, Director of the Quirino Awards, as well as representatives of the embassies of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay.
Finalists by category
All of the finalist works in the Best Feature Film category were produced in 2D animation. Debut films and titles aimed at young/adult audiences predominate in this category, in which works from Colombia, Portugal, Brazil and Spain were selected. Set in a dystopian world, the Colombian “La Otra Forma” marks the feature debut of director Diego Guzmán. The film was awarded Best Animated Feature Film at the Sitges Film Festival 2022. Portuguese director José Miguel Ribeiro will also compete with his first work, “Nayola”. This Praça Filmes production in co-production with Belgium, France and the Netherlands tells the story of three generations of women over the 25 years of the Angolan Civil War. Based on a successful Brazilian animated series for children, “Tromba Trem – O Filme” is the feature debut of director, producer, and screenwriter Zé Brandão. “Unicorn Wars” by Galician director Alberto Vázquez completes the list of nominees in this category. With this, his second feature film, Vázquez recently won the Goya for Best Animated Film and now goes after his third Quirino, having already won the award in the Best Short Film category with “Decorado” and “Homeless Home” in 2018 and 2021, respectively.
The Best Series category is dominated by 2D animation for children, including the Spanish series “Polinopolis” by María Antolini and Martin Guido—produced by Mago Production in co-production with Mexico, France, and Argentina—, and “Jasmine & Jambo” by Silvia Cortés, which seeks to present musical concepts and genres to a child audience. “La Orquestita”, a series directed by Juan Carve and produced jointly by studios and channels from Peru, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, and Spain, also seeks to musically inspire children. The list of finalists in this category is completed with the Chilean “Petit – Season 3” by Bernardita Ojeda, which competes for the third time after having participated in 2019 with the first season of this series and having won the Quirino, two years later, with the second season.
Portuguese animation stands out in the Best Short Film category with two of the three finalists selected: “O Homem do Lixo” by Laura Gonçalves and “Ice Merchants” by João Gonzalez. The first one is a Bando à Parte production that was awarded at the last edition of Animafest Zagreb, while Gonzalez is competing again at the Quirino after having won the award for Best Animation School Short Film with “Nestor” in 2020. Also an Oscar finalist, the short film is a Cola Animation production in co-production with France and the UK. The finalist trio is completed with “Pasajero”, a new stop-motion work by Argentine director Juan Pablo Zaramella, who in 2018 won the Quirino for Best Series with “El hombre más chiquito del mundo”.
As in the last edition, Spanish animation dominates in the Best Animation School Short Film category with two works created at the Universitat Politècnica de València: “Chimborazo” by Keila Cepeda (in co-production with Ecuador) and “Papirola” by Fabián Molinaro. This category is completed with “Carlos Montaña”, a short film by Ita Romero from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina).
In addition to the aforementioned categories, the Quirino will also give awards in the categories of Best Commissioned Animation, Best Video Game Animation, and in three technical categories: Best Visual Development, Best Animation Design, and Best Sound Design and Original Music.
For the full list of finalists, please click on the following link.