Spanish Festival Animac Celebrates Women Filmmakers For Its 20th Anniversary

The Spanish animation festival Animac has selected “Female Futures” as the theme for its 2016 edition, which will take place in Lleida, Spain, next week.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Animac will highlight female creators at a key moment in animation history when there is increased awareness of their place within the art form. “On one hand, we celebrate the extraordinary incorporation of female filmmakers, new themes and sensibilities on the independent field,” the festival stated in a press release. But, the festival’s focus “also highlights the fact that this relevance–also found in the academic field–is still far away from a correspondence in the equal participation in filmmaking, TV production, or videogames–in other words, the industry.”

For its “Female Futures” theme, Animac will present six programs of recent animation work by female filmmakers, in addition to a masterclasses by Portuguese filmmaker Regina Pessoa, and three lectures by women artists: Romanian filmmaker Anca Damian, whose feature Magic Mountain also screens in competition, Spanish stop motion costume designer Flora Cuevas (Pos Eso), and Belgian animator An Vrombraut, who created the popular TV series 64 Zoo Lane.

Furthering the festival’s theme of honoring women, Animac’s lifetime achievement award will be presented to 87-year-old Spanish animator Pepita Pardell. Her first job in the industry also happened to be Spain’s first animated feature, Garbancito de la Mancha (1945), and an extensive career in feature, TV, and commercial animation followed.

Here is the festival opening created by Carles Porta:

The Animac International Animation Film Festival of Catalonia runs February 25-28. For info on attending, visit Animac.cat.