Filmmaker Elio Quiroga Inducted into Royal Canarian Academy of Fine Arts

The Royal Canarian Academy of Fine Arts (RACBA) has named filmmaker and writer Elio Quiroga as a full member. This appointment highlights the growing importance of blending technology with visual arts in today’s culture. The official induction ceremony will take place this Wednesday at the Gabinete Literario in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where the Gran Canaria native will discuss how cinematic language is evolving alongside the rise of algorithms and hyperreality.

Quiroga joins the Academy’s Cinema, Photography, and Digital Creation section, a role reflecting his diverse career. Beyond his creative work, he holds a background in computer engineering and astrophysics and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Social Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid. This mix of science and the humanities has defined his career since he first gained international attention in the mid-nineties with his film Fotos, which earned praise at the Sitges Film Festival and caught the eye of Quentin Tarantino.

During the induction ceremony, Juan Antonio Castaño Collado will sponsor Quiroga, highlighting his achievements, which include a Goya Award nomination and a long history of exploring genre cinema and literature.

This honor comes at a high point in Quiroga’s career, following the recent release of his animated film Winnipeg, the Ship of Hope. Co-directed with Beñat Beitia, the project is an international co-production between Spain, Chile, and Argentina that tells the story of more than 2,200 refugees who fled French internment camps for Chile at the end of the 1930s. By welcoming Quiroga, the RACBA is recognizing not just a filmmaker, but an artist who uses digital tools to bring historical memory to life.