14/01/2026 - The stop-motion film with which Irene Iborra makes her feature directorial debut invites us to use our imagination as an infallible weapon against cruel and unjust reality

Nominated for Best Film and Best Animated Film at the upcoming European Film Awards, as well as for Best Animated Film at the Goya Awards, Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake [+see also:
interview: Irene Iborra
film profile] marks the feature film debut of Irene Iborra. The filmmaker, who has extensive experience in short films, was captivated by the book La película de la vida by her friend Maite Carranza and decided to bring it to the screen. The film had its world premiere at the most recent Annecy International Animation Festival, where it won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, and was screened at Locarno, Seminci and Gijón, among other film festivals. It was released in Spanish cinemas on 21 November by Filmax, and will open in French cinemas on 21 January through KMBO.

This animated feature recounts the adventures – or misadventures – of a family made up of Ingrid, an actress with little work and too many red figures in her bank account (voiced in the Spanish version by three-time Goya winner Emma Suárez) and her two children: Olivia, the restless, sensitive and deeply empathetic girl of the title, who views the world through her mobile phone camera like a budding filmmaker, and her younger brother, Tim. When the family's financial situation worsens, Olivia tries to shield her brother from suffering by pretending that everything happening around them is not real, but rather fiction — part of a film.

In doing so, the film embraces the motto “power to the imagination!”, that marvellous weapon for escaping problems and coping with life. The downside, however — as happens to the young protagonist — is that carrying so much responsibility for dramatic circumstances on such tender shoulders can cause anxiety. Here, that anxiety is embodied by the invisible earthquake that opens cracks beneath Olivia’s feet and plunges her into abysses where dreams and reality coexist.

Through stop-motion animation, interludes of shadow and sand puppetry, and upbeat songs, Iborra dares – much like the award-winning  My Life as a Zucchini [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claude Barras
film profile]– to speak honestly to younger audiences about sensitive and serious issues such as evictions and depression. She does so without resorting to melodrama, always looking towards the light, embodied by a group of multicultural supporting characters who ultimately become the protagonists’ chosen family — because life’s difficulties are far easier to face in good company.

Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake is a production by the Spanish companies Citoplasmas Stopmotion, Kinetic Armatures, Cornelius Films and Bígaro Films, together with the French company Vivement Lundi!, the Belgian company Panique! Production, the Swiss company Nadasdy Film and the Chilean company Pájaro. Its international sales are handled by the French company Pyramide International.

(Translated from Spanish)