“Elcano & Magellan: The first voyage around the world” to premiere at the Malaga Film Festival

Directed by Ángel Alonso and produced by Dibulitoon Studio and Elkano Dibulitoon AIE, the animated film about Magellan and Elcano’s first voyage around the world will have its public debut on March 23rd in the Special Premieres section of the 22nd edition of the Malaga Festival. The film will be dubbed into Spanish for the screening but will not be released in cinemas until July 12th.

Directed by Ángel Alonso and produced by Dibulitoon Studio and Elkano Dibulitoon AIE, the animated film about Magellan and Elcano’s first voyage around the world will have its public debut on March 23rd in the Special Premieres section of the 22nd edition of the Malaga Festival. The film will be dubbed into Spanish for the screening but will not be released in cinemas until July 12th.

Elcano y Magallanes: La primera vuelta al mundo (Elcano & Magellan: The first voyage around the world) is a film for audiences of all ages. Based on historical facts and figures, it has all the ingredients of a classic adventure story, staring the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and the Basque sailor Juan Sebastián Elkano.

With many years of experience, dilmmaker and director Ángel Alonso (Pasaia, 1967) specializes in animation and special effects. In 1991, he joined producer Ricardo Ramón to create Dibulitoon Studio in the Basque Country to produce and direct their own stories. The script was written by José Antonio Vitoria and Garbiñe Losada. The film´s soundtrack was created by Joseba Beristain, who was backed by a number of acclaimed musicians: The Basque National Orchestra, 90 voices of the Orfeón Donostiarra choir, Enrike Solinís and the band La Oreja de Van Gogh.

The premiere is among the initiatives to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Elkano’s expedition. The Basque seafarer Juan Sebastián Elkano (Getaria, 1487) was the last captain of the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe. That expedition left from Seville on 10 August 1519, with Ferdinand Magellan at the helm. The expedition comprised five ships and 238 sailors looking for a new route to the Moluccas in Indonesia. Documents show that 14% of the crew and three of the five boats were of Basque origin. Three years later, on September 6, 1522, 18 men arrived at Sanlúcar de Barrameda aboard the Nao Victoria, built in the Basque Country.