16TH Edition of Weird Market Expands with Weird Invest Day
Skwigly
Image: Weird Market
The Weird Market presents its 16th edition with a program that brings together a large part of the domestic and international animation, videogame, and new media industries. Valencia will host this edition between October 1st and 6th, with professional days held on October 3rd, 4th, and 5th. This year, the event adds two new venues, Las Naves and La Harinera, which join Filmoteca Valenciana. Also this year, the Market launches Weird Invest, a day dedicated to investment and financing options for animation and video game projects, with the participation of investors, publishers, and other relevant institutions.
These three focal points position Valencia as a powerhouse in creative and cultural development within and beyond Spain’s borders, placing it on par with other cities such as Berlin, Paris, and Amsterdam. The Las Naves and La Harinera venues add more than 10,000 square meters to the event, where projects such as a softlanding space for technologies and the Valencia Game City project are housed. Along with Filmoteca Valenciana, these new additions create a perfect balance and a dynamic cultural flow between the city center and the Grao neighborhood.
Weird Invest will take place on October 3rd, thanks to the support of ICEX, Animation from Spain, and Games from Spain, expanding the conference’s offerings with professional activities seeking to cover the industry’s entire value chain. The goal is to present new financing models, examine case studies such as Baoverse and Claynosaurz, and take a closer look at the use of disruptive technologies. Participating investors, publishers, and institutions include Triple Dragon, Animond, Blue Bits, Madwest, Raw Fury, Veemkade Capital, Blackmouth Games, Bright Gambit, Foton Games, Parabellum Games, Elipsis Capital, FEI-EIF, Hulahoop Media, ICO, Enisa, Spain Audiovisual Hub, CDTI, DeAPlaneta Entertainment, MEDIA, the Ministry of Culture, and CESCE.
The official presentation was supported by the General Director of the Valencian Institute of Culture, Álvaro López Jamar; the representative for European Funds, Electronic Administration and Innovation of the Valencia Provincial Council, Juan Ramón Adsuara; the Director of Las Naves, Marta Chillarón; and Weird Market Director, José Luis Farias.
Image: Weird Market
The event will feature project presentations, conferences, networking spaces, a showroom, and the WFest short film festival, in addition to special workshops devoted to recruitment, investment, and financing (Weird Invest). This year’s multidisciplinary program is especially noteworthy for a focus on cultural industries. In fact, 12 international agencies will be sending talent scouts to conduct job interviews and view the selection of 180 projects in the official catalog and the 36 short films in competition.
THE SHOWROOM WILL FEATURE STANDS FOR 13 VIDEO GAMES, 3 SCHOOLS, AND 3 FESTIVALS
Also in the industry area, this edition of Weird Market will seek to reinforce the event’s showroom. The proposal is supported by Indie Dev Day, a fair that attracted 12,000 attendees over three days last year.
On October 4th and 5th, Weird Plaza will hold over 20 stands, including participants in the collaborative fair, spaces for Animalcoi (Alcoi’s International Animation Festival) and Prime the Animation!, as well as educational delegations from the Escola Superior D’Art I Tecnologia ESAT, Barreira A+D, and the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
In the video game section, a total of 13 companies will attend to present their latest developments: Space Diva from Rave Team, World Titans War from Promvi Games, Spells & Spices by Emergency Meeting Studios, Falling Stars by From The Moon, Genokids by Nukefist, Death Match from Le Slo, The Dream Observatory and Blow-Up by Half Sunk Games, Hexistence from Xufa Games, K!chin by Remulla Games, PANIK by Chumas Games, and Bosana – Gate of a Thousand Worlds by Mile Micic, Can Pixel Studio, and The Dude Games. The full spectrum of proposals ranges from shooters to puzzles, with everything from the adventures of former mafia hit-men dinosaurs, worlds at war, dream weavers, and visits to the city of Barcelona featuring animations of real cats in between.
The 16th edition of Weird Market is co-organized by the Valencian Institute of Culture, attached to the Council of Education, Culture, Universities and Employment. It also has the main sponsorship of Europa Creativa MEDIA, the Valencia City Council and the Valencia Provincial Council; the participation of the Ministry of Culture, ICEX, Valencia Innovation Capital, Acción Cultural Española through the Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE) and the ICAA; it is also sponsored by À Punt, HP, and has the support of IndieDevDay, Tangram Solutions, AVEPA, Animat, Movistar Plus+ and RTVE, among others.