Animayo Festival: NFTs, Virtual Reality, Metaverse

Animayo Gran Canaria, Spain’s most important animation festival in the Canary Islands, is venturing deep into the metaverse with experts in artificial intelligence, virtual reality and non-fouling tokens (NFTs) joining the leading voices in animation from major studios, including DreamWorks and Walt Disney, Skydance, Sony Pictures, and Platige Image.

Approximately 23 guests will participate in 14 master classes, three panel discussions, three workshops, 10 recruitment sessions and other events in the 17th in-person session held May 4-7 in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

An online version is scheduled for release in October. “The discussions this year are something new because it is imperative to create a meeting forum in this increasingly polarized community,” said Damien Perea, founder and director of the festival, which also includes VFX and video games.

Berea said the festival’s impact on local productions continues to grow, with the Canary Islands now home to at least 20 animation and light effects companies. diverse.

Among the other early adopters of the Canary Islands and its festival: augmented reality exhibition and sales of NFT related to the popular 2D animated short film “Amanece la Noche Larga”, with all proceeds going to fundraising efforts to help Ukrainian refugees.

The festival trailer highlights over 60 animated shorts from nearly 20 countries that will compete in the festival. The winner of the International Grand Prize will have the opportunity to pre-select the Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards. Animayo remains the only festival in Spain that the Academy has classified as a “qualified festival” for this category.

Other notables from the world of animation include Danish animation director Klaus Toxvig, producer of the Academy Award-nominated “Song of the Sea”; Luis Labrador of Disney Animation Studio, co-creator of the Academy Award-winning “Encanto”; Matt Tuckers, visual effects creator on the popular Netflix series “The Witcher”; and Aurora Jimenez, visual development artist at DreamWorks Animation with credits such as “The Bad Guys,” “Vivo,” “Hotel Transylvania 3,” and “The Emoji Movie.”

Guests from the tech world are Yuan Yinzi, Ubisoft Project Manager and Founder and President of the Metaverse Summit in Paris; Edgar Martin Blass, CEO and Creative Director of Virtual Voyagers, Madrid’s pioneer in virtual, augmented and mixed reality; and Isidro Quintana, CEO of Triple O Games, Metaverse and Play2earn Experiences.

The festival will once again offer a €500,000 ($528,000) scholarship program for online personal studies in Madrid and other major cities.

“I founded Animayo to give aspirants all the opportunities I never had when I started,” Berry said, adding, “This is why the festival focuses on training, education, motivation and finally helping people find jobs through our recruiters.”

“We are proud to once again celebrate life and unite all young people – not young people – personally with the experts of this community as well as giving more opportunities to the new generation,” Beria stated.

“Animayo is a luxury for Gran Canaria. It is a great international offer for training and employment in the audiovisual sector,” agreed Teodoro Sosa, Minister of the Presidency of Cabildo de Gran Canaria, the main sponsor of the annual event.