THE 15TH EDITION OF WEIRD MARKET BRINGS TOGETHER IN VALENCIA ALL THE POTENTIAL AND TALENT OF THE ANIMATION AND VIDEO GAMES SECTOR

The 15th edition of Weird Market returns to Valencia with an expanded program and more venues. The International Animation, Video Games and New Media Market will be held from September 26 to October 1 with a wide range of activities, proposals and screenings that will take place at La Beneficència Cultural Center, the IVAM, and the Filmoteca Valenciana. A catalog with 170 selected projects, 38 short films in competition at WFest, 12 studios participating in the recruitment day and more than 300 accredited participants are just some of the data showing the impact and significance of the event. “It is a point of support for the sector, a benchmark for the industry, a generator of synergies. Weird Market has been working for 15 years for animation and video game professionals and now, in Valencia, we have the perfect place to expand this potential,” said Jose Luis Farias, Director of the event, at the official press conference where he was accompanied by Abel Guarinos, General Director of the Institut Valencià de Cultura; Alfred Costa, General Director of À Punt; Juan Ramón Adsuara, Deputy of European Funds, Electronic Administration and Innovation of the Provincial Council of Valencia; and David de Rosa, Deputy Director of Las Naves Foundation.

One of the hallmarks of the event is its program of conferences and project presentations. On Friday, September 29th and Saturday, September 30th, La Beneficència Cultural Center will host two days packed with activities, where leading names in the industry will unveil details and news of their upcoming work. Some of the planned events will be the announcement of selected projects in MIANIMA 2023/2024, the lecture on Studio Seufz, the pros and cons of being a hybrid studio, the round table on animation co-production works between autonomous communities with the participation of RTVE, TV3 and À PUNT, and the panel “The balance when creating video game IPs”.

The IVAM (Valencian Institute of Modern Art) will host the return of the video game and animation showroom, thus becoming a new venue. On Friday, September 29 and Saturday, September 30, both the professional and general public will have a chance to try innovative experiences and video games that have not yet been released.

This area, together with the networking spaces, will be meeting points for the more than 400 registered attendees; places to meet and find future allies and to get to know the latest in the sector. And to facilitate these synergies, a special app has been created to check the professional attendees and organize meetings, thus enhancing professional connections. In addition, the program will include a space for scheduled B2B meetings between animation and video game companies.

RECRUITMENT DAY AND SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

Weird Market also presents its recruitment day to be held on Thursday, September 28th. A total of 12 leading companies in the sector will be looking for professional candidates to complete their work teams in more than 500 interviews. Headhunters from 3 Doubles, Admirable Films, Alba Sotorra, Aupa Studio, Blu Studio, Hampa Studio, The Glow Animation Studio, Illusorium, El Ranchito, Studio Kimchi, TV ON Producciones and Wise Blue Studios will come to Valencia in search of new talent.

That career part is complemented by the artistic part—the short film festival WFest. The Filmoteca Valenciana, Rialto Building, will be the venue for the competition screenings between September 26th and 28th. The domestic short films in competition will be shown on Thursday 28th, and the winning works will be screened on Sunday, October 1st.

The jury that will pick the winners among the 38 works (10 in the domestic and 28 in the international competition) is made up of four top names who will arrive in Valencia to select the winning works in each category: Aneta Ozorek, Artistic Director of the Kaboom Animation Festival; Stefan Michel, a Producer with Studio Seufz; Louis-Guillaume Loy, Head of the Distribution Department at Sacrebleu Productions; and Rocío Álvarez, Illustrator and Director of animation. Works from Hungary, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Colombia, Ecuador, Portugal, Israel, Japan, and South Korea, among others, are competing for a place in the final list of winners.

170 SELECTED PROJECTS 

On the other hand, Weird Market has selected 170 projects for its official catalog: 19 feature films, 43 short films, 18 series, 37 video games, 24 web series, 6 transmedia projects, 9 comics and 14 board games. This is a sample of the potential, diversity, and plurality of this sector worldwide, and 28 of these projects will have in Weird Market a showcase where to display their new features and advances, explained by their own authors.

The 15th edition of Weird Market is co-organized by the Valencian Institute of Culture, attached to the First Vice-Presidency and Department of Culture and Sports of the Generalitat Valenciana. It also has the main sponsorship of the City Council of Valencia and the Provincial Council of Valencia; the participation of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the IVAM (Valencian Institute of Modern Art), Acción Cultural Española through the Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE) and the ICAA; the sponsorship of À Punt, HP, and Tenerife Film Commission; and the support from Barreira Arte + Diseño, AVEPA, Animat, Tangram Solutions, the Ibero-American Animation League, Movistar Plus+, and RTVE, among others.