Spain and Portugal lead the winners of the Quirino Ibero-American animation awards

'Klaus', 'Tainá e os guardiões da Amazônia' and 'El Pájarocube' receive the awards in the feature, series and short categories, respectively.

Los Quirino Awards for Ibero-American animation This weekend they announced the winning works of their third edition in a virtual gala that also closed the so-called Quirino month.

The Spanish feature film Klaus, the Brazilian series Tainá and the guardians of the Amazon and the Colombian short film The Cube Bird were recognized in the respective categories of these awards, which have been able to celebrate their third edition in this innovative format thanks to the main sponsorship of the Cabildo de Tenerife, through the Tenerife Film Commission. In addition, six other works from Argentina, Spain and Portugal were recognized as best school short film, commissioned animation, video game animation, visual development, animation design, sound design and original music.

The directorial debut of the Spanish Sergio Pablos, Klaus has been defined as a return to traditional animation. Produced by Madrid-based The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine for Netflix, the film is based on the legend of Santa Claus to tell the story of a postman who goes to the Arctic Circle to open a post office. Previously, the film was awarded at the Annie and BAFTA Awards in addition to being one of the finalists in the Best Animated Film category at the last edition of the Oscars. The debut of this animator and screenwriter, creator of films like Crane: I'm a favorite villain o Smallfoot, was also recognized with the Quirino Award for Best Animation Design.

For its part, Tainá and the guardians of the Amazon, a co-production between Brazilian companies Hype Animation and Sincrocine Produções directed by André Forni, was recognized as Best Animated Series. Aimed at preschool audiences, this series that combines 3D and 2D animation has as its protagonist Tainá, an orphan girl from the Amazon jungle who, in the company of her animal friends, protects wildlife and the rich biodiversity of her habitat. The series is an adaptation of a successful live-action trilogy and has been released internationally on the Nickelodeon channel and the Netflix platform.

In the category short films the winner was the Colombian The Cube Bird, directed by Jorge Alberto Vega and produced by La Valiente Estudio and Cintadhesiva Comunicaciones with the associated production of Animaedro. Animated in stop motion, the film is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Marcos Mas that has as its protagonist Pedro, a bird that lives in a cage and is willing to break its bonds to be free. The work was selected in various international festivals and received the award for Best Colombian animated short film at Bogoshorts 2019.

The portuguese animation, one of the great protagonists of this edition of the Quirino after reaching ten nominations, won the awards for Best School Short Film and Best Sound Design and Original Music (Nestor de João Gonzalez) y Mejor Desarrollo Visual (O Peculiar Crime Do Estranho Sr. Jacinto dirigida por Bruno Caetano).

El palmarés de esta tercera edición de los Premios Quirino se completó con los premios a Mejor Animación de Encargo, entregado a Mate?, una coproducción entre Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay dirigida y producida por Buda.tv, y el premio a Mejor Animación de Videojuego, que recayó en Gris, una producción de la española Nómada Studio dirigida por Conrad Roset.

Las obras ganadoras fueron elegidas por un jurado internacional entre 219 trabajos de 17 países recibidos en la convocatoria. El jurado internacional estuvo integrado por el colombiano Alfredo Marun (Director de Desarrollo en Disney Television Animation); la polaca Anja Franczak (Productora creativa en Human Ark); el salvadoreño Simon Vladimir Varela (Diseñador de Producción y Artista de Desarrollo Visual para varios estudios, incluyendo Pixar, Disney, Warner Bros, Sony Animation, Fox y Universal); la estadounidense Vera Verba (Gerente del Canal YouTube de Sesame Workshop) y la francesa Véronique Encrenaz (Directora de MIFA Annecy).