Two Basque shorts at the prestigious Annecy Animation Festival

Basque cinema will be represented at one of the world’s foremost animation competitions, held this year online from June 15th to 30th, with two films supported by the Basque Government. The selected titles are Homeless Home, directed by Alberto Vázquez and Lursaguak. Escenas de vida, by Izibene Oñederra.

Basque cinema will be represented at one of the world’s foremost animation competitions, held this year online from June 15th to 30th, with two films supported by the Basque Government. The selected titles are Homeless Home, directed by Alberto Vázquez and Lursaguak. Escenas de vida, by Izibene Oñederra.

The Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the world´s largest event dedicated to animation, has selected two Basque short films for official competition: Homeless Home, directed by Alberto Vázquez, and Lursaguak. Escenas de vida, by Izibene Oñederra. The event, which opted to move online to prevent complete cancellation, will be held from June 15th to 30th. This is great news for the Basque audiovisual industry, which has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Annecy has received over 3,000 entries from 94 countries. And among the elite of international animation are the two Basque shorts. Both have received production grants from the Basque Government Department of Culture and Linguistic Policy and both will compete in the Official Selection alongside 37 other films. Two Spanish shorts, a co-production with Brazil called Carne, directed by Camila Kater, and Yo, by Begoña Aróstegui.

Homeless Home is a 2D animated short film directed by Alberto Vázquez and executive produced by Iván Miñambres from UniKo. The film addresses an existentialist and social story located in a particular fantastic universe. Homeless Home is a co-production between the Bilbao-based production company UniKo, France’s Autour de Minuit and Madrid’s AltContent. Miñambres has been recognized for his achievements dozens of times throughout his career, including Best Animated Short Decorado at the 2017 Goya Awards, and a nomination in 2019 for Soy una tumba.

Izibene Oñederra from Azkoitia will take part in the French festival with her short Lursaguak, included in the 2019 Kimuak catalogue and in the Zabaltegi section of the San Sebastián Film Festival. Lursaguak was also selected for the Málaga Film Festival, Animasivo (Mexico) and Zinebi (Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Films). The Gipuzcoan director and producer was also involved in the films Beti Bezperako Koplak (2016), Berbaoc (2008), Amar (2010) and Areka (2017). At Annecy, the director will present a dark story about the human condition in contemporary life.

The most represented countries in this year´s Annecy festival are France, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, China and South Korea. While it was decided to move the festival online this year, part of the event has been postponed to 2021, when the 60th anniversary will be celebrated with a tribute to animation from the African continent.