The 16th Weird Market (weirdmarket.es) closed its 2024 edition in Valencia, Spain this weekend, announcing its list of winners, which includes animation projects in all formats and short films selected within the WFest film festival. Nearly 600 registered attendees participated in the Market’s activities, presentations and the showroom for animation, video games and new media.
“The industry professionals and attendees highlight that each year the level of the works presented is higher, and the nature of the event allows them to make contacts and forge alliances, that is, to create industry,” says José Luis Farías, the director of the event, which this year has expanded its professional section with the Weird Invest conference, aimed at presenting new financing models.
This year’s Weird Market project catalog included a total of 180 selected projects that include feature films, short films, series, webseries, transmedia projects, video games, comics and board games.
The Movistar Plus+ Short Film Project Award for development and prodcution went to The Truth Rejects You, Cornelius by Marc Torices and Khris Cembe. Bringing the comics character created by Torices into a 2D and stop-motion animated world, the story delves into the life of Cornelius the dog and his relationship with Avalutsa the frog.
The award includes the acquisition of the piece by Movistar Plus+ for a sum of 9,000 euros in broadcasting rights for a period of two years (with an unlimited number of screenings), the first year being exclusive for the channel. In addition, the short will be officially premiered in the 2025 or 2026 edition of Weird Market.
Another winning title was Catwalk by Lidia Luna, Toni Mortero and Omayra González. The trio won the Best Young Creator Series Project Award, thus obtaining a free registration for the next edition of Annecy (MIFA professional registration). This confirms the industry’s positive reaction after Catwalk’s recognition last March at Next Lab Generation.
In the video game section, three projects are awarded each year by RTVE. The winners of the RTVE Interactive/Video Game awards in this edition were all from Spain: Neon Blood, by ChaoticBrain Studios (Best Video Game Project); Worldless, by Noname Studios, Coatsink (Most Innovative Video Game Project); and Barraka, by Zomorro Studio and Dojo System (Weird Plus Video Game Award). The three distinctions are awarded by RTVE’s Interactive Media department and can now be submitted to RTVE’s Interactive Department.
The WFest short film festival also announced its winners. The international jury, made up of prominent names in the industry such as Portugal’s Bruno Caetano, Spain’s María Pulido, England’s Vanessa Wheeler and Ireland’s Moe Honan, chose Yegane Moghaddam’s Our Uniform as the best international short film. This Iranian work adds a new recognition after having been among the five nominees for this year’s Oscar Awards.
In the European section, all four members of the jury decided in favor of the Finnish film Nun or Never! by Heta Jäälinoja, while Paradise Buffet by Héctor Zafra and Santi Amézqueta won the top award in the domestic competition; this co-production with France held its world premiere in this edition of Weird Market after having won the Movistar+ Short Film Project Award two years ago.
Three special mentions were awarded, one in the international section for In the Shadow of the Cypress by Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani (Iran), another in the European section for the Hungarian short 27 by Flóra Anna Buda, and the last one in the domestic section for Cafuné by Carlos F. De Vigo and Lorena Ares.
The audience also picked its winners: in the domestic competition the winner was The Fence by Sam Ortí, a Valencian filmmaker who chose their hometown WFest for this world premiere. In the international section, there was an “ex aequo” with Wander to Wonder by Nina Gantz (Belgium, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom) and Nun or Never!, which won a second prize.
