Next Lab Generation announces the twenty animation projects selected for its fourth edition

For the fourth year running, the initiative has the support of the Community of Madrid through the Council for Culture, Tourism, and Sport as main sponsor, with the aim of discovering new talent and promoting the most advanced animation production from a technical and narrative point of view. This fourth edition has once again the financial support from the Institute for Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) as part of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan promoted by the European Union, the participation of the Ministry of Culture, and collaboration from Enisa, Annecy Festival and Weird Market.

The final selection comprising the participants of this edition stands out for both the quality and international nature of the projects, which come from: Armenia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Russia.

WORKSHOP 

These 20 animation projects will work on the application of creative tools within the virtual environment and the use of real-time engines, and will receive advice on their production, applying R+D+i and the latest technology. The final result of this eight-week experience will be an animated teaser of each participating project, produced in record time.

After an initial seven-week online phase involving learning the tools, working on the project and a masterclass, only the 10 best projects will go on to the workshop’s second phase. This will take place in Madrid from February 26 to March 2, and will conclude on February 29, March 1 and 2, with an event that will bring together professionals from the sector and will include—in addition to other activities and conferences—a public pitch by the finalists.

A jury made up of professionals from the sector will select the three best projects as winners of the edition, which will be presented at Annecy MIFA 2024 during the Next Lab Generation conference. In addition, each of the winning projects will receive €8,000 gross in development assistance, three months of mentoring, a travel grant and accreditation for a representative of the project to attend the Annecy Festival 2024.

SELECTED PROJECTS

In this edition, the diversity and high quality of the participating projects showcase the fundamental pillars defining the essence of the workshop, which for the past four years has aimed to contribute to the sector by supporting works with a variety of styles, genres, and narrative approaches. Among the selected works we find, among other proposals, captivating stories with a dreamlike tone that envelop the viewer, interspersed with stories that explore vital thoughts told with humor. Also included are projects that address social criticism and even series aimed at children’s audiences. Also noteworthy in this edition is the variety of the works’ origins, representing the workshop’s most international selection of projects to date. Detailed information on each of the participating works is available on the event’s website.

The 20 selected projects are: ¿Hay algún muerto en la sala? by Miguel Medrano Malo, Lucía Sampedro and Carmen Álvarez, Spain; Calcetines by Nacho Campa Martínez and Guillermo G. Fidalgo, Spain; Catwalk by Lidia Luna, Omayra González Pérez and Toni Mortero, Spain; DESECHABLE by Carlos Gómez Salamanca, Diego Cañizal, Colombia and Spain; DIBUS by José Antonio Vaca Cerezo and Adrián Andújar Jiménez, Spain; Dream Jobs Agency (DJA) by Jose Ignacio Molano Silván, Spain; East of the Sun, West of the Moon by Almu Redondo, Spain; La ruina más alta by Douglas De La Hoz, Colombia; Las Almas de Escazú by Nicholas Hooper and Isidora Fajardo, Chile; Lázaro by Beatriz García de Leániz González, Spain; Martina e Guará by Paula de Abreu, Brazil; Maybe yes, maybe no by Yura (Georgiy) Boguslavsky and Asya Kiseleva, Russia and Armenia; Nanomia by Alejandro Díaz Vidal and Iván Martínez, Spain; Parallel Lines at Infinity by Isabella Papa, Brazil and Portugal; PUTA BARCELONA by Pablo García-Munté, Spain; Tales of Vichaya by Luis Felipe Verástegui Ríos, Peru and Brazil; The Cutting of the Forest by Vernante Amarilla Pallotti and Daniele Zen, Italy; The Whistler by Alejandro Muñoz Fernández and Fernando Llor, Spain; Welcome to Fucking Rainbowland by Nuño Benito and Nacho Subirats, Spain; and Zoe & Chill by Jamil Lahham, Canada.

PROFESSORS

In this fourth edition, we once again have experts from the sector making up the workshop staff. Among them is Daniel Martín Peixe, animator with 13 years of experience at Disney (including Zootopia and Moana), who currently works at Moon Studios as a cinematics animator; animation director and digital artist Federico Moreno Breser, Real Time VFX Supervisor at Reel Fx and Quill software expert; Enric Sant, one of the winners of Next Lab 2022, multidisciplinary artist with more than 10 years of experience in the video game industry and director of Lumen, VR animation series awarded at Annecy 2023; Joaquín Martínez, one of the winners of the first edition, who has been working for four years with VR animation, experimenting with new workflows and combining it with teaching experimental animation; and Raúl Colomer, CTO at Hampa Studio and focused on the development and implementation of real-time workflows in 2D and 3D animation, using immersive technology for previewing with open-source software.

LIST OF SELECTED PROJECTS:

¿Hay algún muerto en la sala? by Miguel Medrano Malo, Lucía Sampedro and Carmen Álvarez (Spain). Short film project. Workshop participants: Miguel Medrano Malo and Lucía Sampedro.

Calcetines by Nacho Campa Martínez and Guillermo G. Fidalgo (Spain). Short film project. Workshop participants: Nacho Campa Martínez and Guillermo G. Fidalgo.

Catwalk by Lidia Luna, Omayra González Pérez and Toni Mortero (Spain). Series project. Workshop participants: Omayra González Pérez and Toni Mortero.

DESECHABLE by Carlos Gómez Salamanca, Diego Cañizal (Colombia, Spain). Feature film project. Workshop participants: Carlos Gómez Salamanca and León Felipe Carrizosa.

DIBUS by José Antonio Vaca Cerezo and Adrián Andújar Jiménez (Spain). Series project. Workshop participants: José Antonio Vaca Cerezo and Adrián Andújar Jiménez.

Dream Jobs Agency (DJA) by Jose Ignacio Molano Silván (Spain). Series project. Workshop participants: Jose Ignacio Molano Silván (Mol).

East of the Sun, West of the Moon by Almu Redondo (Spain). Short film project. Workshop participants: Almu Redondo.

La ruina más alta by Douglas De La Hoz (Colombia). Series project. Workshop participants: Douglas De La Hoz and Daniel Hincapié.

Las Almas de Escazú by Nicholas Hooper and Isidora Fajardo (Chile). Series project. Workshop participants: Isidora Fajardo and Felipe Guzman.

Lázaro by Beatriz García de Leániz González (Spain). Short film project. Workshop participant: Beatriz García de Leániz González.

Martina e Guará by Paula de Abreu (Brazil). Series project. Workshop participants: Paula de Abreu and Sergi Miranda.

Maybe yes, maybe no by Yura (Georgiy) Boguslavsky and Asya Kiseleva (Russia, Armenia). Short film project. Workshop participant: Yura (Georgiy) Boguslavsky.

Nanomia by Alejandro Díaz Vidal and Iván Martínez (Spain). Short film project. Workshop participants: Alejandro Díaz Vidal and Ruben Manchón Martínez.

Parallel Lines at Infinity by Isabella Papa (Brazil, Portugal). Short film project. Workshop participants: Isabella Papa and Baboo Matsusaki.

PUTA BARCELONA by Pablo García-Munté (Spain). Short film project. Workshop participant: Pablo García-Munté.

Tales of Vichaya by Luis Felipe Verástegui Ríos (Peru, Brazil). Video game project. Workshop participant: Luis Felipe Verástegui Ríos.

The Cutting of the Forest by Vernante Amarilla Pallotti and Daniele Zen (Italy). Short film project. Workshop participants: Vernante Amarilla Pallotti and Elisa Maggioni. 

The Whistler by Alejandro Muñoz Fernández and Fernando Llor (Spain). Series project. Workshop participants: Alejandro Muñoz Fernández and Fernando Llor.

Welcome to Fucking Rainbowland by Nuño Benito and Nacho Subirats (Spain). Series project. Workshop participants: Nacho Subirats Morate and Nuño Benito de Castro. 

Zoe & Chill by Jamil Lahham (Canada). Short film project. Workshop participants: Jamil Lahham.