Pinocchio in Mussolini's time or the war between bears and unicorns: animation is delivered to adults

The diary of a woman as she goes through different abusive relationships;

the voices of the undocumented in the United States;

a fight to the death between bears and unicorns easily connected to the invasion of Ukraine;

a Pinocchio that comes to life in Mussolini's Italy... Animation as a technique for telling stories for adults is beginning to settle in the imagination of viewers, and last week's attendees at the Annecy festival (France), the world's leading event of animated cinema, they can corroborate it.

As Mickaël Marin, the director of the event, assures, the 13,000 attendees united in a single objective: "Put animation where it deserves".

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Guillermo del Toro presents his 'Pinocchio' in times of Mussolini, produced by Netflix

And that place that it deserves, as del Toro said loud and clear in the presentation of his

for Netflix, is comparable to the one that real-image cinema occupies, as one more technique of cinematographic narrative.

Goodbye to drawings as a synonym of children's or merely family genre.

Among the examples that will gradually reach theaters,

, by Signe Baumane (about abusive relationships);

by Carlos Hagerman and Jorge Villalobos (immigration), or the Spanish

by Alberto Vázquez (unicorns against little bears).

There was much more to the Annecy competition: animation has grown up and found its adult voice.

“Animation is for everyone, children, adults,

and cultured people”, insisted Vázquez, currently the leader of the most authorial Spanish animation, winner of three Goya awards for the short films

and

and for his feature film

and with more than one hundred international awards in his curriculum.

His second feature film,

is an anti-war punk epic with overtones of

and the

As the author likes to repeat, with a budget that barely exceeds three million euros, he aspires to a long career.

"Now the film has a life of its own, but I am very proud of my son and when one is happy he sees everything very well," he confirmed proudly as he passed through Annecy.

It will be released in Spain in October.

That does not mean that Vázquez, who is also a comic book artist and graphic illustrator in numerous media outlets (including EL PAÍS), does not see the shortcomings of the Spanish industry.

The main one: that animation is still not considered strategic.

“This year eight Spanish animated films of all kinds are going to be released.

A great year because normally there are only three or four and almost all of them for family audiences.

It lacks more own production and, above all, more diversity.

We need more author looks.

And more support as an industry.”

More authorship and more diversity

Vázquez considers himself an author with "a slightly bastardized view of animation", since everything he knows about this medium he learned on the fly, in Galicia, creating a team of cartoonists coming, like him, from other media.

For

he needed 12 years of gestation that have included a comic and its subsequent adaptation to a short film (

), until it exploded into a movie-universe of bright colors and brutal violence between unicorns and teddy bears in

An anti-war film that ironically reaches the screens in times of war.

"I don't like the coincidence, but perhaps now the film can have a double reading because it is still an anti-war tale that talks about the origin of all wars," he summarized in Annecy, where over six days more could be seen of 500 productions in all formats and all animated techniques from 109 countries.

Why tell these contents in animation?

In the case of Vázquez, because he likes contrasts, playing with anthropomorphic elements, children's icons like the ones he uses in the film to tell a fable that transcends cultures and borders.

The French co-production is already sold in Japan and preparing for its arrival in the United States.

Tickets at Annecy sold out within minutes of going on sale.

Vazquez is not alone.

“Animation is a graphic metaphor for reality,” sums up Hagerman, co-director of

happy to use this technique to bring his content on immigration issues to a younger generation.

In Baumane's case, the answer is why not.

“I see animation as an art form, an abstraction that allows me to tell my stories.

I think of animated images, but I also find it an excellent way to tell more complicated ideas in a more accessible way.

And give them humor because I am one of those who believe that if you don't laugh at life, you better die.

Although as Vázquez insists, there is no elitist desire behind these animated productions for all ages, not necessarily children.

“What I really wish for

is that it has visibility.

Because we make movies to be seen, not to be the weird ones”.

More than 500 productions in all formats and all animated techniques from 109 countries met over six days in this French city.

Since 1960 it has been the mecca of animation, but now, with a record number of more than 13,000 attendees, it ranks as the most important event after Cannes in France.

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