Second edition of the AnimaBasque-Business market
On 26th March, Bilbao’s Euskalduna Palace will host the second international animation market, AnimaBasque-Business. The forum, promoted by Eiken, the Basque Audiovisual Cluster, aims to support entry to new markets for animation produced in the Basque Country
The forum, promoted by Eiken, the Basque Audiovisual Cluster, aims to support entry to new markets for animation produced in the Basque Country.
On 26th March Bilbao’s Euskalduna Palace will host the second edition of the AnimaBasque-Business market, an international forum on animated contents, which aims to support the entry of animation products developed by Basque companies (largely films and television series) into new markets.
The event will bring together professionals and companies from home and abroad. Hence the organisation has contacted some fifty companies of international weight within the sector, and Art Mell (France), Castelao Productions (Spain) and the British companies Little Dragon and Wonky Films, which have taken part in numerous animation projects for the BBC and Channel 4, are just some of those that have confirmed their attendance. The forum will also be joined by the heads of children’s programmes from TVE (Spanish national broadcaster).
The initiative promoted by Eiken, in conjunction with Barton Films, is part of the Basque Audiovisual Cluster’s strategy to undertake integrated actions that support Basque companies in their internationalisation and gaining entry to new markets. “AnimaBasque-Business” also has important institutional backing, including, amongst others, the Basque Government, through its Culture Department and the Bizkaia Provincial Authorities under the Bultzatu Scheme, which is managed by said Authorities’ Innovation and Economic Promotion Department. In this edition, there has, moreover, been intense collaboration between the Audiovisual Cluster and the British Consulate in Bilbao, with the joint aim of fostering co-operation between Basque and British companies.
Basque Enterprises
The Basque companies working on animation contents that will this year be presenting their projects (in the development or production phase) are Dibulitoon, Xperimienta+Kaia, Somuga, Baleuko and Silverspace. All of these enterprises have a long history in animation and have received awards and nominations in prestigious events such as the Spanish cinema Goya Awards, and the short film “Perpetuum mobile” by the Alava-based studio, Silverspace, was pre-selected for this year’s Oscars in the best animated short film category.
In addition to these five, projects will also be presented by Magoproductions (Barcelona) Forma Animada (Seville), Little Dragon, The 3D Revolution and Wonky Films (United Kingdom).
This market, scheduled to coincide with the AnimaBasauri5-Animabasque Animation Festival, is organised as an inverse trade mission. It will be an occasion in which potential customers and co-producers from the international sphere can learn about projects under production or awaiting distribution, which the companies are presenting in order to reach agreements for co-productions and foreign distribution, and to thus find an outlet for their works.
The market will provide a space for direct contact, with a closed schedule for work-desk interviews and meetings between professionals, producers and distributors. The event will be attended by some of the great names in international animation, such as the French director Francis Nielssen.
“Animation is one of the audiovisual subsectors with the greatest opportunities for development and access to new markets, because it is a universal product; hence the importance of consolidating this forum and giving companies the chance to present their works,” explains Itziar Mena, Director of Eiken. The heads of the Cluster are confident that AnimaBasque-Business will become consolidated as the most important animation market in Spain and that it will become an annual event for exchanging knowledge, technology and work methodologies for the audiovisual animation industry.