The Annecy International Animation Film Festival, one of the main events on the animation industry calendar, will take place from 9 to 15 June this year, and will feature three Catalan productions selected for the festival, and various projects in the MIFA, the festival’s market section, as well as a delegation of almost 40 Catalan companies.

The feature film Rock Bottom (Alba Sotorra, Jaibo Films, GSAnimation, Empatic) by Maria Trenor will be competing in the festival’s Official Selection Feature Film section. It is an animation inspired by the life and music of Robert Wyatt, which was selected for the Marché du Film 2023, as part of the Annecy Goes to Cannes initiative.

Meanwhile, the film Black butterflies (Ikiru Films, Televisió de Catalunya, Tinglado Film, Anangu Grupo, Tunche Films) by David Baute, a co-production with Panama about migrations and climate change, will be competing in the Official Selection Feature Films Contrechamp section.

Finally, as part of the non-competitive section Annecy Presents, there will be a screening of Buffalo Kids (4Cats Pictures, Atresmedia Cine, Anangu Grupo, Mogambo Entertainment) by Juan Jesús García Galocha and Pedro Solís. This western was selected at the latest Cartoon Movie, a pitching event and co-production forum which focuses on animated feature films.

Two Catalan projects in development have been selected for the market screenings. Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake (Cornelius Films, Citoplasmas, Panique!, Bigaro Films, VivementLundi) by Irene Iborra Rizo, a stop-motion animation feature film, which tells the story of a girl and her family when they are evicted from their home, will be presented as part of the MIFA Works-in-Progress. And the feature film Caramel’s Words (Koniec Films, Signatia, Las Films du Cygne) by Salvador Simó, a story about the friendship between a boy and a camel in a refugee camp in the Sahara, has been selected for the MIFA Pitches.

Meanwhile, the Next Film LabGeneration, a forum for talks on the industry, will host a talk on animation and technology, which will present the Catwalk project, by Lidia Luna, Toni Mortero and Omayra González.

Furthermore, as a result of MIFA’s collaboration with ICEX and ICAA, two Catalan projects will be presented in the Women in Animation From Spain industry section: Jasmine & Jambo(Teidees Audiovisual) by Sílvia Cortés, and Wixi Against the Binary Lens (Mil Monos Cine) by Angie Cornejo.

And among the activities at the festival, Catalan Films, the internationalisation brand of the Catalan audiovisual industry, is working with the market on the Meet the Festivals project, a series of presentations and one-to-one meetings where Catalan production companies will be able to meet programmers from international festivals.

The companies participating in MIFA include: 3 Bessones AIE, 4 Cats Pictures, A Contracorriente Films, Alba Sotorra, Animac, Apocalipsis Producciones, Associació Cultural Modiband, Audioprojects, Autodesk, Blanco y Negro, B-Water Animation Studios, Catwalk, Celofan Audiovisuals, Citoplasmas, Claymaniak, Cornelius Films, DeAPlaneta, DeAPlanetaEntertainment, Filmax, Filmin, GoldBeeEntertainment, Ikiru Films, Imagic TV, Koniec Films, Liquid Rock Entertainment, Mago Production, Motion Pictures, NutsIdeas, OUO Time, Pack Màgic, PeekabooAnimation, Pikkukala Barcelona, PROA, Rita & Luca Films, Sauvage TV, Selecta Vision SLU, SITGES – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, Studio Kimchi, Teidees Audiovisuals, Tomavision Studio, Trini Cuevas, TV3 - Televisió de Catalunya, Wideframe Studio, Ypsilon Films and Zeptolab.

Support for the audiovisual industry

The Ministry of Culture allocated more than 50 million euros to the audiovisual industry in 2023, a record figure. The audiovisual sector is one of the main priorities of the Government of Catalonia in this term of office. According to Minister Garriga, “our priority is to promote it as a strategic sector that shapes imagination, describes landscapes, ways of doing things, creates references, conveys the language and generates conversation and provides impetus for the economy”. The Ministry of Culture’s grant lines cover the entire audiovisual value chain, with allocations earmarked for development and co-production, among other areas.

This support has helped to highlight and consolidate some of the Catalan audiovisual industry’s outstanding assets: the talent of its professionals, the existence of internationally renowned training centres, the work and commitment of a powerful audiovisual industry that draws on a long tradition and creates an enormous variety of productions, and the wealth of festivals that put the country on the international map.