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La Voz Canaria

Animayo Gran Canaria Premieres 34 Films with Iconic Tony Bancroft Leading Jury

The 21st edition of the festival, a qualifier for the Academy Awards and Annie Awards, will feature special screenings and prominent animation figures.

Generic image of a podium with a microphone in a conference room or library, with empty chairs and bookshelves in the background.
IA

Generic image of a podium with a microphone in a conference room or library, with empty chairs and bookshelves in the background.

The Animayo Gran Canaria International Festival of Animation, Visual Effects, and Video Games, in its 21st edition, will feature up to 34 premieres and special screenings, with renowned director and animator Tony Bancroft chairing its International Jury.

The event, unique in Spain as a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards in two categories and for the Annie Awards, brings Tony Bancroft to Spain for the first time. Bancroft is an emblematic figure of the Walt Disney Feature Animation renaissance in the nineties, known for co-directing Mulan and creating iconic characters like Pumbaa from The Lion King and Iago from Aladdin.
In addition to his work at Disney, which includes titles such as Mary Poppins Returns and the 100th-anniversary short film Once Upon a Studio, Bancroft has left his mark on animated television series and films like Mosley and Space Jam: A New Legacy. The festival has also unveiled the full composition of the juries for its four official competition sections, who will select the winners of the Animayo Gran Canaria 2026 International Awards.
Among the 34 premieres and special screenings, the world premiere of An Epic Yarn stands out, presented by its director Andrew Gordon, an animator and executive director at Pixar Animation Studios. Also to be screened in the Canary Islands are The Piano, executive produced by Tony Bancroft and presented by its director Avery Kroll, and the short film Cap Al Cel by Nicolás Solé.
These works, along with others of global, European, Spanish, and Canarian origin, will be presented during the screening sessions. Special screenings, in original version with Spanish subtitles, will take place at the Teatro Guiniguada in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. On Wednesday, May 6, the French feature film Little Amélie will be screened, and on Saturday, May 9, there will be a session dedicated to animated family comedies from Gigglebug Entertainment, including Emmy-winning works.
Animayo's organization reviewed nearly 2,000 works of animation, visual effects, and video games from 78 countries, selecting 75 short films for their artistic and narrative quality. The festival emphasizes its role as a platform for emerging talent, with strong representation from international schools and universities such as Gobelins (France) and Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (Germany).
The Animayo Gran Canaria 2026 International Awards will include up to 17 award categories, with two fixed awards: the Grand Jury Prize and the Best Animation Short Film with Ñ. The International Jury, composed of prominent industry professionals, will decide the awards, while the Children's Audience Award will be voted on by schoolchildren from across the island of Gran Canaria.

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