Following the announcement of the short film selections for its WFest film festival, the 15th edition of Weird Market has selected a total of 170 projects for its official catalog. This International Animation, Video Games and New Media Market will include 19 feature films, 43 short films, 18 series, 37 video games, 24 web
series, six transmedia projects, nine comics and 14 board games in the works — of which 28 will be presented during the event.
“Animation is experiencing a brilliant moment, both industrially and financially, as well as artistically and creatively. In these 15 years, Weird Market has positioned itself as a showcase for future trends, a place to learn about the works that will be the talk of the town in the coming months and years,” says José Luis Farias, director of the event.
The Cultural Center La Beneficència will host the screening sessions for five animated feature films will be on the table, including productions of such outstanding filmmakers as Galician artist Alberto Vázquez, winner of four Goya Awards and creator of Unicorn Wars and Birdboy and the Forgotten Children. He is now working on his new film, Decorado, which is based on one of his short films of the same name.
Other titles to be presented in Valencia include The Granny Pirate by Álex Cervantes and Anthony Christov, with screenplay by Josep Gatell (Operation Shrimp, Tadeo Jones 3) and Philip LaZebnik (Pocahontas, Mulan, The Prince of Egypt); Western Dragons by Jose Manuel Muñoz Pardo; and Pinkooland by Luis Usón, who is both a director and a top visual effects specialist, having worked on films such as Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune and Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile.
This section is completed by Nacho La Casa’s Like, a Spanish-Peruvian co-production. In parallel to this project, he is currently working on the pre-production of Norberto, a 3D animation feature film in international co-production with Argentina. He is also producing Superklaus, a co-production with Canada to be released in Christmas 2023.
In addition to WFest, Weird Market reserves a special section for projects for animated short films, with 10 titles including Anaglyph (Anaglifo) by Valle Comba, The Locksmith by Mauro Luis and Juan Torres, A Clearing in the Forest by Gonzalo Rute, The Body of Christ by Bea Lema, M.E.O.W. by Álvaro León and María Ruisánchez, and the Portuguese-Italian co-production The Last Sock by Carolina Batista.
This section also includes Changelings by Goya award winner Abraham López Guerrero (Blue & Malone Impossible Cases), Cornelius by Marc Torices and Krish Cembe, Caretakers by Daniela Cuenca, an Ecuadorian filmmaker based in Spain, and Funnie Fantasies: “Some Like It Choo-Choo” by Pablo Río, who is also vying in the WFest competition with his most recent work, La gran cita de Conej.
As with the short films, there will be room for series, with four productions and co-productions countries represented: Spain, Portugal, Mozambique, Ireland and Finland. These are DIBUS by Adrián Andújar and José Antonio Vaca, The Informals by João Roxo and João Graça, Sky Plaza by José Garnelo and Taste Buddies by Veronica Lassenius.
The 2023 edition also includes presentations for web series, such as Saturday Sabadete by Alex Rey, a time-travel adventure to the Spain of the 1980s; and the transmedia project Is There a Corpse in the House? by Miguel Medrano Malo and Lucía Sampedro.
Weird Market and WFest will be held September 26-30 in Valencia, Spain. Visit weirdmarket.es/en for more information.
