38 short films to compete in 15th edition of Weird Market
Skwigly
Image via Weird Market
The 15th edition of Weird Market, the International Animation, Video Games and New Media Market, reveals the 38 short films from 21 countries selected to compete in its WFest festival. A total of 10 domestic and 28 international works will be screened in Valencia between September 26th and October 1st. These screenings will be held at the Filmoteca Valenciana and will be attended by some of the filmmakers and their technical and creative teams. In addition, the creation of a new section (Weird Talent) has been announced and the 12 companies that will participate in the recruitment day have been confirmed.
The WFest festival, a key part of Weird Market, has selected a total of 10 works for its domestic competition in 2023. Some of them are already known by the audience of the sector’s benchmark Spanish event, such as All is lost by Goya nominees Carla Pereira and Juanfran Jacinto, a work that was screened at the festival last year.
Local talent makes its mark with five Valencian productions: Interns by Marina Donderis, Nuria Poveda and Marina Cortón; Motelli, a hopeless cat by Ben Fernández; Wooden Mirror by Sergi Sánchez (co-production with Italy); All good by Diana Acién Manzorro, born in Cádiz, but settled in the Valencian capital since her training years; and the above-mentioned All is lost by Carla Pereira and Juanfran Jacinto.
The list is completed by Conej steps out by Pablo Río, Humbug Manor by Juan Carlos Mostaza, Sandwich Cat by David Fidalgo (winner of the Audience Award at the SXSW Festival), To bird or not to bird by Martín Romero, and White noise by Yuri Rojo.
28 WORKS IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
The international competition will comprise 28 short films from countries as diverse as Hungary, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Colombia, Ecuador, Portugal, Israel, Japan and South Korea, among others. A variety of works and techniques where the traditional 2D predominates, but includes productions created in 3D, stop motion or mixed techniques that capture a snapshot of the current animation scene worldwide.
Themes related to current events are intertwined with productions that take inspiration from other arts, as in the case of La Notte, the work of Italian Martina Generali, which is based on Antonio Vivaldi’s concerto of the same name.
The selection combines emerging artists with renowned animators such as Owen Klatte, who after participating in major titles such as Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, presents his first independent short film. Another outstanding name is Oscar-nominated Koji Yamamura from Japan, producer of The House of Loss, directed by Jinkyu Jeon.
Other works include the Oscar-nominated Ice Merchants by Portuguese director João Gonzalez or It’s Nice in Here by Robert-Jonathan Koeyers, which participated in the Cannes Festival, and short films selected in leading festivals worldwide such as Toronto, Edinburgh, Annecy, or Clermont-Ferrand, as well as Spanish pre-selection festivals for the Oscar Awards such as Zinebi, Huesca or Sitges.
NEW SECTION: WEIRD TALENT
In 2023, the cinematographic part is expanded with a new section called Weird Talent. A non-competitive screening made up of domestic short films that are part of the market and whose directors are considered by the organizers as names worth “keeping on the radar” in the words of José Luis Farias, director of Weird Market.
Weird Talent includes a total of 7 works from emerging creators, students, and filmmakers with a proven teaching career. The screening session on Saturday afternoon at La Beneficència will show Cats by José Garnelo, A booger’s nightmare by Dani Blanc, Boxfox by Aurora González Segura, Cade Heleny by Esther Viral, Line 23 by Concha Alonso Valdivieso, Carnivorous women by Mar Torres Gómez and The Sun Thief, a production of L’Idem Creative Arts School made by a group of students as a final project.
12 STUDIOS LOOKING FOR NEW TALENT
Weird Market is an event that focuses on each and every one of the creative and production processes of animation and video games. The recruitment day that every year promotes job creation and facilitates meetings between companies and professionals is an example of this. In 2023, a total of 12 international studios, through their headhunters, will conduct hundreds of interviews to complete their teams.
The companies that have confirmed their attendance during the morning of Thursday, September 28th are 3 Doubles Producciones, Admirable Films, Hampa Studio, Aupa Studio, TV ON Producciones, Wise Blue Studios, El Ranchito, The Glow Animation Studio, Blu Studio, Illusorium, Alba Sotorra and Studio Kimchi.
Candidates interested in taking part in this activity and arrange a job interview must complete registration before September 12th or until full capacity is reached.
The 15th edition of Weird Market is co-organized by the Valencian Institute of Culture, attached to the First Vice-Presidency and Department of Culture and Sports of the Generalitat Valenciana. It also has the main sponsorship of the City Council of Valencia and the Provincial Council of Valencia; the participation of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the IVAM (Valencian Institute of Modern Art), À Punt, HP, and Tenerife Film Commission, among others.
More info at weirdmarket.es/