Portuguese animation stood out in the sixth edition of the Quirino Awards, winning four of the nine awards given to promote Ibero-American animation. The feature film “Nayola” and the short films “The Garbage Man”, “Ice Merchants” and “Garrano” were the Portuguese works recognized in an edition that also paid tribute to 100 years of animation in that country. Along with them, works from Spain and Argentina also received awards. With the main sponsorship of the Cabildo de Tenerife, the awards ceremony was held on May 13 at the Teatro Leal in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, and was broadcast online worldwide.
“Nayola”, by Portuguese director José Miguel Ribeiro, was chosen Best Feature Film. This Praça Filmes production tells the story of three generations of Angolan women marked by the long civil war the country suffered at the end of the last century. Premiered in the official competition of the Annecy Festival in 2022, and internationally recognized in a dozen competitions, Ribeiro’s first feature film is an adaptation of the play “A Caixa Preta” by José Eduardo Agualusa and Mia Couto.
Meanwhile, the award for Best Series went to Spain’s “Jasmine & Jambo” by Silvia Cortés, a series that seeks to explain musical concepts and genres to a preschool audience through the adventures of two friends who are passionate about music. Produced by the Catalan company Teidees Audiovisuals in co-production with TV3, the first season of the series has been broadcast in more than ten countries around the world.
Awarded Best Short Film, “The Garbage Man” by Laura Gonçalves is a Bando à Parte production that reflects the poetry, saudade and authorial signature that characterizes Portuguese animation in recent decades. Made in 2D animation, the film tells the story of Tio Botão, a man capable of transforming garbage into real treasures.
In the Best Animation School Short Film category, the award went to “Chimborazo”, a work by Ecuadorian Keila Cepeda produced by Spain’s Universitat Politècnica de València, while Argentina’s “This Dog Looks Weird”, by Facundo Quiroga, Juan Nadalino and Sebastián García, was recognized as Best Commissioned Animation and “Endling – Extinction is Forever”, developed by Spain’s Herobeat Studios, received the award for Best Video Game Animation.
Portuguese animation also stood out in the technical categories of the Quirino Awards, winning two of the three prizes awarded: “Ice Merchants” directed by João Gonzalez won the Best Visual Development award, while “Garrano” by David Doutel and Vasco Sá was awarded for Best Sound Design and Original Music.
The list of winners also included the Argentine stop motion short film “Passenger” by Juan Pablo Zaramella, winner of the award for Best Animation Design.
The winners were chosen by an international jury made up of Andrea Fernández, Julio Bonet, Risa Cohen, Robert Jaszczurowski and Simón Wilches-Castro.
The ceremony also paid tribute to Claudio Biern Boyd, producer, and creator of animated series such as “The World of David the Gnome”, “Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds” and “Around the World with Willy Fog”, among others. Biern Boyd was born in Palma de Mallorca in 1940 and died last October 17. He was the founder of BRB Internacional and Apolo Films, the production companies behind some of the series and films that marked Spanish animation at the end of the last century.
Sponsored by the Cabildo de Tenerife, the Quirino Awards reaffirm with this new edition their relevance in the construction of a common space for animation in the 23 countries of this region comprising the countries of Latin America, Spain, and Portugal.
