Spanish, Brazilian Works Lead Quirino Award Nominations, Among Them Oscar Contender ‘Robot Dreams’
Organizers of the Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards on Friday presented 25 finalists as part of the Malaga Film Festival’s Mafiz-Spanish Screenings Content Animation Hub section.
The 25 works from seven countries will compete in 10 categories at the seventh edition of the Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards, taking place on May 11 in Tenerife.
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Spain tops the list of countries with the most entries, 16, followed by Brazil with seven and Chile with three. Argentina, Mexico and Portugal are present with two nominations each, while Colombia has one nomination.
Leading with the most nominations are Spain’s “Robot Dreams,” by Pablo Berger, which is also competing for the best animated feature film Oscar, and the Brazilian short “Lulina e a Lua,” by Marcus Vinicius Vasconcelos and Alois Di Leo, with three each.
Best Feature Film
Spanish animation dominates the Best Feature Film category with three out of four nominations, including “Hanna and the Monsters,” the first feature film by Galician director Lorena Ares, which follows the adventures of Hanna, a little girl who loves monsters.
Also making her debut is Isabel Herguera with “Sultana’s Dream,” a work inspired by the feminist science fiction story of the same name written in 1905 and the first European animated film to compete in the San Sebastian Festival’s Official Selection.
Likewise nominated for best feature is “Robot Dreams,” Bilbao-born Pablo Berger’s fourth feature film, yet his first animated work. An adaptation of the 2007 graphic novel of the same name by illustrator Sara Varon, the film has already won two Goyas and an Annie and is a finalist for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Also in the running for best feature is Argentina’s “The Paradise,” a film noir based on true events by Fernando Sirianni and Federico Moreno Breser.
Best Series
Spanish and Brazilian works, all developed in 2D, make up the five nominees in the Best Series category: Spanish works include Catalan director Sílvia Cortés’ second season of previous award winner “Jasmine & Jambo,” a musical series aimed at preschoolers; “Poor Devil,” an adult series created by Joaquín Reyes, Miguel Esteban and Ernesto Sevilla; and “Sex Symbols,” a series that addresses the sex and emotional education of children and adolescents directed by Paloma Mora Iñesta and Alex Cervantes. From Brazil are “The Wild Hotel of Ana Flor,” by Andrés Lieban and Alessandro Monnerat, who competed in the same section in 2021 with “Conta conmigo,” and Season 2 of “The Nutty Boy,” by Michele Massagli and Beto Gomez and based on the work of Brazilian cartoonist Ziraldo.
Selecting the winners will be a five-member jury that includes directors José Miguel Ribeiro of Portugal; Marcela Rincón of Colombia; Wesley Louis of the U.K.; Zane Valeniece, head of acquisitions for Latvian pubcaster LTV; and Emmanuèle Petry, co-founder and producer at Paris-based production company Dandelooo.
The Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards will be held on May 11 at the Leal Theater in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife.
The complete list of finalists can be seen here.
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