In all my years of criticism, I never would have imagined I'd be reviewing an animated musical comedy starring sperm cells that must make the long journey from a teenager's testicles to his first girlfriend's egg. But, as it happens, the day has arrived. Co-directed by Rasmus A. Sivertsen and Tommy Wirkola, specialized in productions with a clear and powerful concept (such as Nazi zombies or the exterminator Santa Claus Silent Night), Spermageddon It is presented as a parody of Pixar's preferred narrative scheme: giving anthropomorphic characteristics and feelings to inanimate organisms, and turning physical and mental processes into corporate structures. In fact, it can be understood as a replica of Inside Out, which opens the door wide to the youthful libido that Disney eradicates from its imagination. While it is true that Spermageddon rarely manages to make the good-humored and crude gags that parade across the screen live up to its premise, and must juggle to reconcile the fertile feat of its characters with a moral in favor of safe sex and family planning, we must recognize those responsible for a merit as little as possible: they have made a film producers and more de facto powers of the film industry as its protagonists of not ending up crushed in a condom or handkerchief.

Even before it is released, Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake It is already a milestone: it is the first Catalan animated feature film in stop-motion Made in Barcelona, it is the first film with this technique in Catalonia directed by a woman, the screenwriter, producer and director Irene Iborra. The film has also just celebrated its premiere within the competition at the Annecy Film Festival (France), the Mecca of animated cinema, and is guaranteed a theatrical release this fall.

Javier Mariscal (Valencia, 1950) can't quite process the fact that the Animac Festival in Lleida has awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award, which he will collect this Sunday at the closing ceremony. "I'm not an animator," he excuses himself, "I'm nothing!" And yet, he has done everything: comics, textiles, sculptures, paintings and designed everything from venues to Olympic mascots... But he hasn't always been welcomed with open arms. "Miquel Barceló told me not to paint, that my comics were the best. My comics were the best."The Viper The same: "What beautiful furniture you make." Oscar Tusquets told me: "Don't make furniture, your paintings are very beautiful." The art world didn't forgive me for having works at 30,000 euros in a gallery and then selling them at a newsstand. And thank goodness I didn't win the Oscar with Chico & Rita or the animators would have shot me."