The animation industry in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal will receive a major boost with the launch of Ibermedia Next, a funding program aimed at promoting innovation and ingenuity in upcoming productions. The initiative, which was first announced in May at the Quirino Awards, was recently promoted at Annecy, where Quirino Awards executive producer José Luis Farias hosted a conference detailing its application process.
Ibermedia Next is offering grants of up to €150,000 ($163,500) along with a support program valued at up to €95,000 ($103,550). The funding aims to encourage talent to experiment with cutting-edge technology and fresh animation methods. The grant focuses on serendipitous collaborations among the Ibero-American audiovisual industry, including Italy, and marks a collaboration between the Quirino Awards and the Ibero-American Animation League supported by efforts from the E.U.’s Next Generation Funds of European Recovery, Transformation and Resilience plan.
The Assessment Committee and Consultancy members will select grant-receiving projects and guide their development. The committee includes Peruvian writer and director Aïda Del Solar; Alejandra Luzardo, a manager in innovation and creative economy in the IADB; Luís Belerique, a video game artist at Tequila Works; animation industry Raúl García (director of Extraordinary Tales and The Missing Lynx, who has worked on a wide range of movies and TV shows, including Aladdin and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?); and Osa Studio founder Rosario Carlino.
According to Farias, the grant focuses on fostering the use of new and open-source technologies in animation. He said applicants need to think outside the box and utilize new or open-source technology. The acceptable entry formats are broad, ranging from animation tests and short films to 2D animation and five-minute animations with grease pencil in VR. Farias assured applicants that the prototype should be experimental and suit their unique style. He added that the grant is like an expandable IP, in that it can be a fragment of a larger project.
The Ibermedia Next Plaza is a free online tool set to function as a conduit between peers and those interested in co-production. Farias is designed to establish a link between companies. He said that it is a good platform for other projects, even if applicants do not succeed in going for the grant. Beneficiaries of the grant will also receive training, consults, robust promotion, and further networking opportunities. They will also have the ability to join in on the Quirino Awards, Ventana Sur Animation! in Buenos Aires, and Mexico’s Pixelatl festival.
Farias emphasized that the grant is an experimental one, and its main aim is to create networking opportunities for companies and professionals. It also aims to simulate and train business skills and technological skills, marketing promotion, and support investment in development as well as supplementation and testing.
To register, applicants need to sign up at IBERMEDIA NEXT PLAZA, a free platform where businesses and production companies from Spain, Italy and Portugal can get in touch with other companies and creators from all the member states of the program. It is a free tool for the industry set up by Ibermedia Next to facilitate meetings between professionals in the sector. The call for proposals is intended for the application of new technologies in the field of digital animation and audiovisual content with a high percentage of animation. It is part of Component 25 ‘Spain Audiovisual Hub of Europe’ of the European Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and is funded with NextGenerationEU funds.
