A total of 26 works from ten Ibero-American countries will compete in the eighth edition of the Quirino Awards for Animation. Established in 2018 to promote animation from the 23 countries of the Ibero-American region, the Quirino Awards are primarily sponsored by the Tenerife Council through Tenerife Tourism. A total of 1,992 works have been submitted to these awards since their first call in 2017.
Spain and Brazil are the countries with the most nominations (twelve and eight, respectively), followed by Portugal with five and Chile with three. Argentina and Mexico are present with two works each. Cuba, Panama, Peru and Uruguay complete the list of finalists with one nomination each.
Selected from 263 submissions, the finalist works aim to win awards in one of the seven main categories (Feature Film, Series, Short Film, School Short Film, Commissioned Work, Video Game Animation, and Music Video), as well as in one or more of the three technical categories (Visual Development, Animation Design, and Sound Design and Original Music).
Spanish animation confirms its leadership in the region by securing all nominations in the Feature Film and School Short Film categories. Meanwhile, Chile, Portugal, and Argentina lead with two nominations each in the Series, Short Film, and Music Video categories, respectively. Brazil, for its part, has five nominations across the three technical categories.
The jury responsible for selecting the winners includes American producer Ben Kalina from Titmouse studio, Spanish researcher and programmer Carolina López Caballero, Helena Nylander, head of children’s content acquisitions at Swedish public broadcaster SVT, Brazilian animation director, screenwriter, and animator Daniel Bruson, and Leyla Formoso, CEO of French distributor and producer Prime Entertainment Group.
For the first time since the creation of the Awards, the finalists were announced in Latin America, at an event held at the Embassy of Spain in Buenos Aires. The event was attended by the Ambassador of Spain to Argentina, His Excellency Mr. Joaquín de Arístegui Laborde, the Vice President of the Tenerife Council and Minister of Tourism, Foreign Action, and Institutional Relations, Mr. Lope Afonso, the Director of the Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards Silvina Cornillón, and the Executive Producer of the Awards José Luis Farias.
At the event held in Buenos Aires, the launch of the Ibero-American Animation Space Futures Lab was also announced. This new initiative by the Quirino Awards, in collaboration with the Ortega Marañón Foundation, aims to generate proposals for the development of animation in Ibero-America. The laboratory is conceived as a space for collective intelligence where professionals, institutions, and experts in animation and other sectors will work together to explore future scenarios, identify challenges and opportunities, and design innovative cooperation schemes.
Additionally, details were shared about the Co-Production and Business Forum, the industry arm of the Quirino Awards, which will host a new edition of the roundtable “Women in Ibero-American Animation.” This year, the roundtable will feature a revamped format designed to enhance the professional development of its participants.
Finalists
Buffalo Kids, directed by Pedro Solís and Juan Jesús García “Galo,” is an adventure set in the American Wild West and was the second highest-grossing Spanish film of 2024. Co-directed by Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba, They Shot the Piano Player is an animated thriller that explores the disappearance of Brazilian pianist Tenorio Jr. during Argentina’s military dictatorship. The list of finalists is completed by Black Butterflies, an animated documentary by Canarian director David Baute that follows the forced migration of three women due to the climate crisis; the film won the Goya Award for Best Animated Film in February.
Two titles will attempt to repeat their success in the Best Series category. After winning the award in this category in the last two editions of the Quirino Awards, the musical preschool series Jasmine & Jambo – Season 3 is once again a contender with its third season, produced again by Catalan studio Teidees Audiovisuals and directed by Sílvia Cortés. The Brazilian series Jorel’s Brother – Season 5 by Juliano Enrico—winner of Best Series in 2019—returns as a finalist with its fifth season, produced by Copa Studio in collaboration with Warner Bros Discovery. Two Chilean productions complete the list of finalists in this category: Firsts – Season 1, directed by Bambú Orellana and Paloma Mora, produced by Typpo Creative Lab in co-production with Valencia-based studios TV ON Producciones and Admirable Films; and Wow Lisa – Season 1, directed by Antonia Herrera and María Elisa Soto-Aguilar, produced by Punkrobot.
Portuguese animation leads the Best Short Film category with two finalists.
The Girl with the Occupied Eyes, directed by André Carrilho and produced by Blablabla Media, which has been selected at over 75 festivals worldwide, and Percebes, directed by Alexandra Ramires and Laura Gonçalves, produced by BAP Animation Studios alongside French studio Ikki Films, winner of the Cristal Award for Best Short Film at the 2024 Annecy Festival. The third finalist is Capybaras, directed by Alfredo Soderguit and produced by Uruguay’s Palermo Estudio in collaboration with France’s Autour de Minuit and Chile’s Pájaro.
Also announced during the event, were the finalists in the categories of Animation School Short Film, Animation Music Video, Commissioned Film, Animation for Video Game, and in the three technical categories, Visual Development, Animation Design, and Sound Design and Original Music. Discover them here.
