How Spain’s animation sector became a force to be reckoned with

Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams, world premiering in Cannes as a Special Screening, is flying the flag for Spanish animation on the Croisette. The film is a story about friendship, focused on a solitary dog and a robot, and is set in 1980s New York. It is produced by Barcelona-based Arcadia Motion Pictures, with France’s Les films du Worso and Noodles Production; Elle Driver is handling sales.

It is a rare foray into animation for live-action specialist Arcadia following Alberto Rodriguez and Nacho La Casa’s Ozzy in 2016. More recently it has produced Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Cannes 2022 title The Beasts and Mateo Gil’s Realive. It is also the first animated feature for Berger, best known for his award-winning Snow White.

Arcadia’s move into animation is part of a wider boom throughout Spain. Between 2020 and 2022, 16 animated features were completed, compared to just five in the preceding five years. From 2020 to 2022, Spain was second only to France in the number of animated projects pitched at Bordeaux’s prestigious Cartoon Movie event.

“During pandemic lockdowns, producers began to focus on animation as they could carry on working much easier than with live-action shoots,” says Chelo Loureiro of animation house Abano. Loureiro produced Alberto Vazquez’s Unicorn Wars and also directed animation Valentina. Both films took best animated film Goya awards in 2023 and 2021, respectively.

“The growth is the result of 10 years of hard work,” says Jose Luis Farias, director of Weird Market and Next Lab. He points to the fact animation producers can access the same national financial incentives as live-action features.

That hard work is paying off on global cinema screens and at international film festivals: Alberto Mielgo’s The Windshield Wiper won the Oscar for best animated short in 2022; Sergio Pablos’ Netflix feature Klaus was Oscar nominated in 2020; and Unicorn Wars has become a cult gem in European arthouse animation circles. Mielgo co-produced The Windshield Wiper though his Pinkman label with Los Angeles-based Leo Sanchez Studio, and Klaus was a production of Pablos’ Madrid-based The Spa Studios.

At the international box office, Juan Jesus Garcia Galocha’s debut family animation Mummies, about a secret city populated by Egyptian mummies, has become the eighth most successful Spanish film of all time at the international box office.

It is produced by 4 Cat Pictures, whose credits include Tad The Lost Explorer And The Secret Of King Midas and Capture The Flag. “Spain has a long tradition of training people in animation and the graphic arts,” says 4 Cats producer Jordi Gasull.

The country also offers top-notch training at centres including Lightbox Academy, U-tad, BAU and La Salle, and provides plenty of specialised festivals and markets such as Ibero-American Quirino Awards, Weird Market, Next Lab Finance & Tech and Lleida’s Animac.

Market buzz

As the Country of Honour in the Cannes market, Spain’s ICEX and ICAA bring a wealth of Spanish animation projects and talents to Animation Day (May 21).

Maria Trenor’s musical animation Rock Bottom is featuring in Cannes’ Annecy Animation Showcase. The co-production between Spain’s Alba Sotorra and Jaibo Films, and Poland’s GS Animation is inspired by the life and works of ex-Soft Machine vocalist and drummer Robert Wyatt and lyricist/illustrator Alfreda Benge.

Other activities include panels, a showcase of a selection of the best Spanish recent and upcoming shorts, and the screening of the opening episode of the second season of Disney’s Star Wars: Visions, directed by Spain-born, Los Angeles-based Rodrigo Blaas, whose credits include episodes from Trollhunters: Tales Of Arcadia.

The shorts showcase will show a diverse selection of established animation filmmakers such as Blaas and Mielgo, alongside emerging talents such as Carla Pereira and Carmen Cordoba. “We are screening real stories — the animated documentary is a trend — and proposals range from state-of-the-art technology use to other crafty stop-motion titles,” says curator Carolina Lopez, director of Lleida’s Animac festival in Catalonia.

Upcoming animated features to look out for include Oscar nomi­nees Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s They Shot The Piano Player, which is sold by the UK’s Film Constellation and produced by Fernando Trueba Producciones, France’s Les Films d’Ici and the Netherlands’ Submarine.

Also in the works are Salvador Simo and Li Jiangping’s Dragonkeeper, produced by Larry Levene’s Guardian de Dragones and China Film Animation, and sold by SC Films International; Andrea Sebastian and Steven Majaury’s 4 Days Before Christmas, a co-production between 3 Doubles Producciones, Capitan Araña, Smartrek and Canada’s Groupe PVP, which is being sold by Pink Parrot Media; Isabel Herguera’s Sultana’s Dream from Spanish production firms Abano and El Gato Verde; and Roc Espinet’s feature debut Girl And Wolf, produced by Sygnatia and Parrocha Studio, and being handled internationally by Latido Films.

Also in the works is Pablos’ much-awaited next feature, which has the working title Ember. Animation is burning bright, indeed.