Spain, Argentina, and Portugal lead the list of nominations.
* Among those selected there are Oscar and Goya finalists.
* The finalists will be announced on Friday, March 10 in Madrid.
Spain, Argentina, and Portugal are leading the list of nominations with 20, 18 and 15 works, respectively, followed by Brazil and Colombia with 5 works each. This first selection also includes works from Chile (2), Mexico (2), Uruguay (2), Ecuador (1), and Peru (1). The Portuguese short films “Garrano” and “Ice Merchants”, and the Argentine “Passenger” together with the Spanish feature film “Unicorn Wars” have the most nominations, with four each. They are followed by the feature film “Nayola” and the short film “Garbage Man”, both Portuguese, with three.
With finalists at the Oscars (“Ice Merchants”), and at the Goya Awards (“Inspector Sun and The Curse Of The Black Widow”, “My Grandfather’s Demons”, “Tad The Lost Explorer and The Emerald Tablet”, “Unicorn Wars” and “Roped”), the selection reflects the growing international projection of animation from the region. In addition, some of the works have been selected and won awards at some of the world’s most important festivals, including Annecy, Sundance, Animafest Zagreb, Clermont Ferrand, Cannes and Sitges.
The nominees were chosen by a Selection Committee, while the three finalists in each of the categories will be chosen by an international 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). The finalists will be announced on March 10 at the Portuguese Embassy in Madrid.
A Selection Marked by Co-Productions
Spain, Brazil, and Portugal account for most of the nominations in the Best Ibero-American Animated Feature Film category, in which, for the first time, eight works have made it past the first selection round, including commercial titles and others of an auteur nature. There is also diversity in animation techniques, with works in 2D and 3D animation, and one that combines 3D with stop-motion.
“Tadeo Jones 3. La Tabla Esmeralda” is the third installment in the famous archeologist’s saga. Directed by Enrique Gato, the film exceeded 1.6 million tickets in Spain. The other two Spanish productions still in the running in this category are “Inspector Sun and The Curse Of The Black Widow” by Julio Soto, and “Unicorn Wars”, a co-production with France and the second feature film by Alberto Vázquez, director who won two Quirino Awards in the Best Short Film category: in 2018 with “Decorado” and in 2021 with “Homeless Home”.
In an outstanding year for Portuguese animation, the country has two films nominated in this category: “My Grandfather’s Demons”, directed by Nuno Beato, a co-production with Spain and France, and “Nayola” by José Miguel Ribeiro, a co-production with Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.
Brazil also has two feature films on the list of nominees: “Perlimps”, the third film by Alê Abreu (“O Menino e o Mundo”), and “Trunk Train – The Movie”, a film adaptation of the successful TV series directed by Zé Brandão. Completing the list of nominees in this category is the Colombian “The Other Shape”, a science fiction film that marks the feature debut of director Diego Guzmán, a co-production with Brazil.
Spain also leads the nominations in the Best Ibero-American Animated Series category with two works: the musical series “Jasmine & Jambo” directed by Sílvia Cortés (Teidees Audiovisuals and Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals), and “Polinopolis”, directed by María Antolini and Martin Guido, produced by Mago Production, in co-production with Apapacho Films and Godo Studio, with the participation of RTVE, Televisió de Catalunya and Pakapaka (Spain, Mexico, France, Argentina).
Also competing for a place among the finalists are the musical series “The Tiny Orchestra”, a co-production between Peru, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, and Spain (Señal Colombia, CPSE, Chucho TV, Apus Estudio, Mago Production) directed by Juan Carve; the Colombian “Chica Cartón” (Señal Colombia and Piragna), and the Argentine “Underdogs United”, an animated series based on the film “Metegol” and co-produced by Discovery Kids Latin America and Mundoloco CGI. Completing the list is the Chilean “Petit” by Bernardita Ojeda, which competes again in the Quirinos with its third season, produced by Pájaro, RTVE, TV3, WKND, Pakapaka, and Señal Colombia (Chile, Spain, Argentina, Colombia).
With three nominated works, Portuguese animation also shines in the Best Short Film category. Portuguese participation is headed by “Ice Merchants” (a co-production with France and the United Kingdom) by João Gonzalez, a short film that also contends for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. In 2020, Gonzalez was awarded the Quirino for Best School Short Film for “Nestor”. Two works signed by BAP – Animation Studios complete the Portuguese nominations: “Garrano” (co-production with Lithuania), directed by David Doutel and Vasco Sá, and “Garbage Man” by Laura Gonçalves.
The list of nominations also includes the Spanish short film “Roped”, by director Carmen Córdoba González, who in 2021 was a Quirino finalist in this same category with “Roberto”; the Colombian “Boa”, directed by Nicolás Eduardo Parra; and the Argentina-Mexico co-production “Flesh of God”, directed by Patricio Plaza. Coming also from Argentina is “Passenger”, a new stop-motion short film by Juan Pablo Zaramella, director who in 2019 won the Quirino for Best Animated Series for “The Tiniest Man in the World”.
Spain and Argentina monopolize the nominations in the Best School Short Film category with four and two works, respectively. The works include pieces produced by students and graduates of the Universitat Politècnica de València, Digipen Institute of Technology Europe Bilbao, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina) and Image Campus.
Finally, the organization of the Awards announced the nominations in the categories Best Ibero-American Commissioned Animation (led by Argentina with four nominations), Best Ibero-American Video Game Animation (with three nominations from Spain and two from Argentina), and the technical categories Best Visual Development, Best Animation Design and Best Sound Design and Original Music. The complete list of nominated works is available at this link.
About the Quirino Awards
The Awards were named in honor of the creator of the first animated feature film in history, the Italian-Argentine Quirino Cristiani, who in 1917 directed “El Apóstol,” an Argentine production in which 58,000 drawings made by hand and shot in 35 mm were used.
The Awards have the main sponsorship of the Cabildo de Tenerife through Turismo de Tenerife and the Tenerife Film Commission; the sponsorship of the City Council of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, ICEX Spain Export and Investment, Government of the Canary Islands, Canary Islands Institute for Cultural Development, Canary Islands Film, ICAA and PROEXCA; the collaboration of CAACI, the Ibermedia Program, Acción Cultural Española through the Program for Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE), RTVE, WELAW, La Liga de la Animación Iberoamericana (The Ibero-American Animation League), Retina Latina, Filmin, Multicines Tenerife, Paraninfo ULL, Casa de América and Culturamanía; and the support of DIBOOS, SAVE, Pixelatl, Animation! Ventana Sur, Weird Market, La Mesta, Pantalla, Canary Islands Audiovisual Cluster, and Annecy Festival; as well as that from the associations APA – Association of Animation Production Companies of Córdoba Argentina; Animar Cluster – Argentine Cluster of Animation & VFX; ABCA – Brazilian Association of Animation Cinema; Animachi Chile; Bolivian Animators Network; GEMA Colombia – Animation Business Group; Animation Costa Rica; Ecuadorian Animators Guild; ACDMX – Association of Digital Creatives of Mexico; Paraguay Animation; Peru Animation; and Casa da Animação de Portugal.