The following from Bruno Simões, whose “Pip,” when launched, grew to become YouTube’s all time most-watched animation brief with 540 million views. “Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope,” a chronicle of Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda’s most interesting achievement. And Tallinn Grand Prix winner, “Because Today is Saturday,” from Portugal’s Alice Eça Guimarães.
All three Catalan animation titles play at Annecy this 12 months, in an 11-title unfold, counting each the competition and MIFA, which captures the wealthy vary, expertise and spirited co-production drive of Catalonia’s nonetheless fast-growing animation sector.
This 12 months’s Annecy Mifa market may even open a window on the dazzling achievement and potential of initiatives put by means of inventive tech program Ibermedia Subsequent.
“Ezcazú Souls,” for instance, used Blender’s Grease Pencil module, “combining trad 2D with a 3D world, working in symbiosis with Geometry Nodes, that produces spectacular results,” notes producer Laura Dauden. Photographs or movies of actual environments had been digitally reimagined, the texturing of characters and props achieved by “painting directly onto the models – a technique we use to evoke the aesthetic of Latin American muralism,” she provides.
Be careful too for rising expertise such because the co-directors of “The Journey,” Susana Casares, ex-head of inventive expertise improvement and funding for Netflix Spain and Portugal, and Júlia Francino, who based and directed Barcelona movie college ESCAC’s Animation and VFX Division for a decade and was a author on the 2026 Goya-nominated brief “Paradise Buffet.”
A better take a look at many of the Catalan titles chosen for this 12 months’s Annecy Animation Movie Pageant or its MIFA market:
“Because Today is Saturday”
‘Because Today is Saturday’
Courtesy of Catalan Movies
Director: Alice Eça Guimarães
Producers: Animais AVPL (Portugal), La Clairière Ouest (France), Studio Kimchi (Spain)
From Eça Guimarães, a Selection Portuguese Animation Talent to Track, enjoying Annecy’s Views and Tribeca. It’s Saturday, a day of relaxation. A lady wakes up early to offer herself a present: time. However each time a second of inspiration arises, she is interrupted – the youngsters, the laundry, the meals. “Women continue to carry a disproportionate share of unpaid domestic work, leaving them chronically tired and with little opportunity for personal growth, creativity, or reflection,” says Guimarães.
“A Dangerous Journey”
‘A Dangerous Journey’
Courtesy of Catalan Movies
Administrators: Lucija Stojević, Carla Melo, Iulia Voitova, Laura Ginès
Producers: Midday Movies, Spain; Avec ou Sans Vous, France
Set for Annecy’s Girls in Animation from Spain Pitch, a primary of two initiatives at Annecy this 12 months from Barcelona’s rated Midday Movies, which made the Docs With out Borders brief “Lost at Sea,” seen at Annecy in 2023. This transmedia challenge portrays three youngsters labeled as “undesirables,” interned on the Rivesaltes focus camp in France throughout World Struggle II. Co-directed by Colombia’s Melo “(“La Perra”), Ukraine’s Voitova (“Longue Distance”) and experimental animator Ginès (“Salvaxe, Salvaxe”).
“Escazú Souls,”(“Las Almas de Escazú”)
‘Escazú Souls’
Courtesy of Catalan Movies
Creator/Showrunner: Nicholas Hooper H. Administrators on particular person episodes: Nicholas Hooper H; Laura Dauden and Maria Weis; Sergio Mejía; Anais Taracena; Rita Basurto.
Producers: Ahead Movies, Spain; Cubho Audiovisual, Chile; Polygonal Manufacturing unit, Spain; Leste, Brazil
A projected animated doc anthology collection plumbing the lives and suspicious deaths of six environmental activists in Latin America, now finalizing a pilot episode, a part of Ibermedia Subsequent 2.0 and in superior discussions with potential co-production companions. “This is an ambitious international series,” says producer Laura Dauden. “The heart of these stories is the love people have for their communities and territories, and how that relationship is transformed by violence,” she provides.
“The Factory Beyond the Hill,” (“A Usina Atrás do Morro”)
‘The Factory Beyond the Hill’
Courtesy of Catalan Movies
Director: Ricardo Kump, Lucas Abrahão,
Producers: LPB Content material, Brazil; Midday Movies, Spain
Seen by two youngsters, a faceless firm units up close to a hamlet, constructing a manufacturing unit so enormous that it overshadows the village, leaving it in everlasting night time. It’s an absurdist psychological thriller and darkish comedy whose visible language is rooted in Goya’s black work and the pink earth of São Paulo’s rural inside, say Kump and Abrahão. Already a 2024 Ventana Sur Animation! buzz title and now certain for Annecy’s prestigious MIFA Characteristic Movie pitches.
“Hunger,” (“Hambre”)
‘Hunger’
Courtesy of Catalan Movies
Director: Imanol Ortiz López
Producers: Orlok Movies, Mil Monos Cine, Kabiria Movies
Wheelchair-bound Eloy tries to influence spouse Mary to kill their child son Dani who has claw-like fingers. Primarily based on a brief story by David Jasso, a psychological horror drama shot in widescreen black and white and set in a post-apocalypse world of empty streets and burning vehicles. “This story is deeply human and universal. Here, we address hunger on a dramatic level to highlight the dilemmas parents face when raising their children,” says director Ortiz López.
“Impossible!”
‘Impossible!’
Courtesy of Catalan Movies
Director: Bruno Simões
Producers: Studio Kimchi (Spain), Cosmo Giantwheel (U.Ok).
A Mifa TV Particular Pitch. Canine yearns to see the ocean. ”Inconceivable!” he sighs, till a misplaced crab asks him for assist getting dwelling. Adapting Tracey Corderoy and Tony Neal’s e-book, “on the surface, it’s a charming and colourful adventure filled with memorable characters and playful comedy. Beneath that, however, lies a deeply relatable story about fear and self-discovery,” Simões tells Selection.
“The Journey,” (El viaje”)
‘The Journey’
Courtesy of Catalan Movies
Director: Susana Casares, Júlia Francino
Producers: Desarrollos Mediáticos Internacionales (WKND), Dos Soles Media (Spain); Nu Boyana (Portugal)
After a interval dedicated to motherhood, Agus units off for a protracted yearned-for journey to Japan with expensive pal Loly. “But buried fears and a hidden secret threaten the journey, turning an exotic adventure into a heartfelt reckoning eased by humor, friendship, and self-forgiveness,” the synopsis says. A 2D Girls in Animation From Spain pitch primarily based on the graphic novel by Agustina Guerrero, “a warm and engaging narrative, addressing complex subjects such as reproductive choice, unrealized dreams of motherhood, and the existential uncertainty that emerges when life diverges from our expectations,” say Casares and Francino.
“Monster Mia”
‘Monster Mia’
Courtesy of Catalan Movies
Director: Verena Fels
Producers: Arx Anima, Arxlight Pictures, Monstruosa Mia AIE, Peng!Increase!Tschak! Movies, Arx Anima MD
Expelled scholar Mia and her pet rat Quentin arrive at Rotwood Academy, the place she’s the one human amongst monster classmates. With Principal Van Vlad’s hatred of people, she should crew up with monsters to thwart his schemes. A weighty spooky high-school family-targeting comedy CGI animated function, with a declared €9 million ($10.4 million) funds, which has scored promising pre-sales for Sola Media. Co-produced out of Spain by Spanish animated function locomotives Nicolás Matji of Arxlight Footage and Edmon Roch of Barcelona-based Ikiru Films, behind the “Tad the Lost Explorer” movie collection.
“Who Killed Cock Robin”
‘Who Killed Cock Robin’
Courtesy of Catalan Movies
Director: Romina Marti O’Toole
Producers: Frog Animation and Alhena Manufacturing
Cock Robin is discovered hanging lifeless from the balcony of his nation home. “Who killed Cock Robin?” the villagers ask in shock. “I,” Sparrow replies calmly. Because the funeral unfolds, nonetheless, the village’s darkish secrets and techniques slowly emerge. From Frog, arrange in 2023 by Montse Capón, Mireia Hernández and Xavi Carmona, and veteran Norbert Llamas at Alhena (“The Coffee Table”). A probably shrewd portrait of energy dynamics. “Even when the visible face of power disappears, the system that created it will always find a replacement, allowing the cycle to continue,” Marti O’Toole tells Selection.
