VALENCIA WILL HOST FROM OCTOBER 1st TO 6th THE 16TH WEIRD MARKET WITH NEW VENUES AND A POSTER DESIGNED BY MR. KLAUS
Once again, Valencia will host the Weird Market, the International Animation, Video Games and New Media Market. The 16th edition of this benchmark event in the sector confirms its dates, from October 1st to 6th – with the professional part on October 3rd, 4th and 5th– and new venues that will host hundreds of professionals. La Harinera and Las Naves join the Filmoteca Valenciana as reference centers for a rich and multidisciplinary program that each year includes projects presentations, talks, networking spaces, recruitment and screenings, among others.
In its third year in the capital of Turia, the key event for the animation and video game sector announces new venues such as the old Harinera del Grao (built in 1923) and Las Naves. Two infrastructures that together make up the public innovative axis of the city with more than 10,000 square meters and whose aim is to position itself as a large European reference hub on a par with those existing in Berlin, Paris or Amsterdam.
These infrastructures represent an incubator for creative and cultural development in which projects such as a softlanding space for technologies or the Valencia Game City project are housed. “A whole world of possibilities and synergies opens up to us which, together with the strength of the professional fabric of animation and video games in Valencia, places Weird Market in a privileged position to continue taking firm steps in development for the event itself and the territory” highlights its director, José Luis Farias.
In addition, the Filmoteca Valencia will once again host the screenings of WFest, the short film competition that fills the Sala Berlanga with large audiences of all ages every early autumn. Thus establishing a perfect triangle that connects the center with the Grao neighborhood.
“MR. WEIRD” COMES BACK
The event also presents the official image of its new edition in which a character known to its fans returns: Mr. Weird; at the same time it reflects all the areas of industry on which the programming is developed. The 2024 poster is designed by the Spanish animation studio Mr. Klaus and recovers the iconic figure they presented in 2020. “It returns to give us some surprises during the event. At Weird we are always investigating the limits of technology and creativity so stay tuned for this” announces Farias.
Specialized in the creation of quality content for the animation and video game industry, Mr. Klaus has a client portfolio that includes international companies, production companies and channels such as Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Anima Kitchent, Canal+ Junior , El Ranchito, BRB International, IGG, Supercell.
CALL FOR PROJECTS
One of the founding elements is the call for projects that is open until July 25th. Until that date, the organizing committee will receive works (in different stages of production) divided into five categories: animation and video games, transmedia, web series, board games and comics.
The first of them is consolidated as an Iberian cultural bridge, thanks to its Portuguese-Spanish scope. In addition, it maintains RTVE, Movistar Plus+ and the Annecy Festival as collaborators, granting several recognitions such as the Movistar Plus+ Short Project Award, RTVE Awards for Best Video Game Project, Most Innovative Video Game Project and Weird Plus Video Game and the Annecy-MIFA Award for Best Young Creator Series Project.
For the ninth consecutive year, Movistar Plus+ supports the call by awarding the Movistar Plus+ Short Project Award to the best national short film. The short film selected in this section will obtain the acquisition of the broadcasting rights by Movistar Plus+ for an amount of 9,000 euros for a period of 2 years and an unlimited number of screenings, with the first year being exclusive.
For its part, the European new media, innovative and transmedia section continues to be the great continental reference on new trends. In addition, in 2024 there will also be an international section for animated web series and calls for European board game and comics projects.
Later, in the month of September, the projects selected to be presented during Weird Market by their creators will be announced.
The 16th 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 Creative Europe MEDIA, the Valencia City Council and the Valencia Provincial Council; the participation of the Ministry of Culture, ICEX, Valencia Innovation Capital, Spanish Cultural Action through the Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE) and the ICAA; the support of IndieDevDay, AVEPA, Animat, Movistar Plus+ and RTVE, among others.
