PACO ROCA
Paco Roca is a cartoon writer and illustrator, a graphic novelist and filmmaker. His most recent graphic novel, Arrugas (Wrinkles, Astiberri, 2008), has been made into a 2D animated feature film for adults. Both the novel and the film deal in a realistic but subtly humorous way with the topics of Alzheimer’s disease, aging, memory-loss, the humanity of the elderly, friendship, and life in an assisted care home. In 2008, the Department for Culture in Spain awarded the graphic novel with the National Comic Award, and Italy’s Lucca Festival bestowed upon it the Gran Guinigi Award for best long story. Arrugas has also been recognized in the category of Best Graphic Novel by the Diario de Avisos of Tenerife (2008). Moreover, it has been published in Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Finland, Germany and Japan, with over 35,000 copies sold in Spain, alone. In 2012, the animated film version of Arrugas received a Goya Award for Best Animated film of the year in Spain.
Artist website: www.pacoroca.com