True to its appointment in Arrecife, the new edition of Animayo Lanzarote, which is held from this Wednesday the 12th to Saturday the 15th at the Pancho Lasso Art School, is presented as the most powerful held on the island to date.
With a 30% increase in content for all audiences in relation to the previous edition, Animayo Lanzarote will feature eight speakers from the animation and visual environments sector, as well as a program consisting of eight master classes, four training workshops, four cycles of screening of the winners, nine school sessions, more than 100,000 euros in scholarships for talent, autograph signings, recruitment, portfolio reviews and an exhibition.
This was made clear at the press conference held in the morning at the Art School itself, where some of the main supporters of this edition gathered to announce all the details of its program.
The presentation began with the Councilor for Culture of the Arrecife City Council, José Alfredo Mendoza, highlighting that "Animayo 2020, represents a cultural enrichment in our municipality." "Each year, there are more participants who increase their knowledge at this festival and I have no doubt that this edition will add new members. It is a real pleasure as Councilor for Culture that Arrecife has experts in the audiovisual world and, above all, that the people of Lanzarote can demonstrate their talent by living a unique experience in a quality event," he said.
"This same weekend the Oscar awards ceremony has just been held, in which a Spanish film, Klaus, by Sergi Pablos, was nominated for Best Animated Film. This fact shows the strength and power of Spanish animated cinema at an international level. An industry that has been growing little by little and to which Spanish cinema has been contributing great authors and excellent professionals working both inside and outside our country. For all this, and for its effort, international projection - as you know, Animayo is the only Spanish animation festival designated "Qualifying Festival" by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Oscars - as well as for its constant work in the training of the youngest, from the Cabildo we will continue to support Animayo Lanzarote," declared the Councilor for Culture, Alberto Aguiar.
Screenings for more than 3,750 schoolchildren
These statements were joined by the vice-director and coordinator of cultural activities of the Pancho Lasso Art School. "We are excited to host the new edition of Animayo Lanzarote in our facilities. We have always lent our collaboration to this great festival in addition to encouraging and facilitating the participation of our students, so we think it is the natural setting for its celebration, and we hope it will continue to be so in future editions," she stressed.
Next, the production coordinator of the Animayo International Summit of Animation, Visual Effects and Video Games, Nazareth Lezcano, took the floor, thanking the interventions as well as collaborations and sponsorships to the institutional representatives, and also congratulated "for the opportunity to celebrate Animayo Lanzarote 2020 in these facilities." "Thanks to this we will be closer to our target audience and the occasion will allow us to open the Art School to the entire public of Arrecife and Lanzarote," she said.
Having made the acknowledgments, Nazaret Lezcano, recalled that the celebrations of this 8th edition of Animayo Lanzarote already started successfully last week with the screenings for schoolchildren at the El Salinero Theater with more than 3,750 primary and secondary school students, from 25 centers in more than five municipalities of Lanzarote, who enjoyed a special program with the best of the Animayo winners, attending, once again, to social content such as tolerance, ecology and care for the environment or integration.
Animation stars
Next, highlighting the more than 5,000 participants in the previous edition of Animayo Lanzarote, she pointed out that this year, already in its program for adults, there is "a thirty percent increase in content that translates into eight master classes, four training workshops, four cycles of screenings of the winners, scholarships for talent (awarded by U-tad and ArtHeroes), autograph signings, recruitment, portfolio reviews and two exclusives: the presentation of the Animayo Educational System, on Saturday 15 at 12:00 noon with free admission until full capacity. A program that seeks to enhance the creativity and talent of Canary Island schoolchildren through the creation of an animated short film in the classroom that can later be enjoyed by the public of Lanzarote.
Likewise, Animayo will also feature the exhibition of the video game "Gris, the Video Game. Work in Progress", a work of art where you can see the creative development of the same through its landscapes and characters in 40 pieces in the form of watercolors and that will be open to all audiences in the hall of the Pancho Lasso from 10:00 to 21:00 hours.
Animayo Lanzarote 2020, which is held from this Wednesday 12th to Saturday 15th February, both inclusive, will also feature eight guests, stars of the animation and visual environments sector, professionals who have left their mark on titles such as "The Avengers", "Aquaman", "Christopher Robin", "Dragon Keepers", "The Hunger Games", "Wonder Woman" or from the world of video games, such as "Game of Thrones", Need for Speed", "Star wars Battlefront"...
More than 100,000 euros in scholarships for talent
True to its firm commitment to training, the coordinator of Animayo, Nazaret Lezcano, also presented the master class "Decide your future", which will take place on Friday 13 from 10:00 to 11:30 hours for all audiences and will be given by José García Romero, director of Admissions, Production manager of U-tad, University Center of Technology and Digital Art (Doctor Mateo), with special emphasis on the 42 postgraduate scholarships for the development of the digital industry in the Canary Islands, both in person and online, valued at more than 90,000 euros; a privilege for Animayo subscribers, an essential requirement to access them. In addition, the Art Hero academy will offer three scholarships worth almost 1,000 euros that will give access to the 3D modeling and character creation course. These collaborations with Animayo Lanzarote 2020 will amount to more than 100,000 euros in scholarships for talent.
Concluding her speech, Lezcano, presented the screenings with the best of Animayo in four official section sessions (two from 2018 and two from 2019, from Wednesday 12 to Saturday 15 at 20:30 hours), among which will be "Late Afternoon", by Louise Bagnall, nominated for the Oscars in 2018 after its direct pass to its pre-selection to win the Animayo Grand Jury Prize, and "Five Minutes to Sea", by Natalia Mirzoyan, Animayo 2019 Grand Jury Prize. In addition, you can also enjoy two anime-style features thanks to the collaboration of Selecta Visión: "I want to eat your pancreas", Sinichiro Usiyima's first opera, and "Weathering with you", nominated for the Any 2020 awards in four categories, including best screenplay. These screenings will take place on Wednesday and Thursday at 18:00 hours, respectively.
Animayo Lanzarote, directed and produced by Damián Perea Producciones, is sponsored and supported by the Arrecife City Council through its Departments of Culture and Education, the Area of Education and Culture of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, the Pancho Lasso Art School and the U-tad university. Art Heroes, TF Animation, Colegio Santa Maria de los Volcanes and private collaborators also participate.