Festival by Pixelatl Director José Iñesta: “Animation Can Change the Fate of Mexico”
The fourth edition of Festival by Pixelatl, Mexico’s largest animation industry conference, kicked off today in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Cartoon Brew will report from the event this week.
Not your standard conference, the event has a strong vision and plays an outsized role in the development of the Mexican animation industry, aiming to create links between studios, TV networks, investors, artists, and students. Besides a packed slate of workshops, lectures, and screenings, a key element of Pixelatl is its Ideatoon Summit, a competitive event in which Mexican artists and studios pitch projects to prominent animation executives and distributors, and receive advice on selling and producing ideas. The Ideatoon contest is paying dividends: the winner of last year’s Ideatoon, Mariachi Zombie, has been optioned for development by Canadian animation producer Atomic Cartoons:
Pixelatl conference director José Iñesta answered some questions about this year’s conference and Mexican animation in general via email:
CARTOON BREW: Explain why you started the Pixelatl conference and the Ideatoon competition, and what you hope to accomplish with this year’s edition?
JOSE IÑESTA: We started Pixelatl because we believe that animation can change the fate of Mexico. It uses technology and narrative; these two ingredients can close the many breaches that split the country apart. This year, we expect to continue building the animation industry in the country, so that more creators meet and link each other with the international animation community. We want to see more collaboration between studios.
CARTOON BREW: What are some of the highlights of this year’s conference, or programs that you are most personally excited about?
JOSE IÑESTA: It’s hard to choose exciting events when you have 60 guests and all of them have something wonderful to talk about. I’m very excited about our keynotes this year. Having Phil Tippett speaking about the history and evolution of special effects and how it evolved into VFX is particularly interesting. Having Nimona creator Noelle Stevenson speaking about how to continue to listen to your inner voice while creating bestsellers and international properties is a key message that we want local creators to remember. Our masterclasses will also be great with Mark Osborne (The Little Prince, Kung Fu Panda) talking about storytelling for feature films and a screenwriting workshop led by Rob Edwards (The Princess and the Frog, Treasure Planet). Jorge Gutierrez (The Book of Life) teaching about character design is another key activity I wouldn’t want to miss.
SEE ALSO: Mark Osborne, Phil Tippett, Noelle Stevenson, Pete Browngardt Among Headliners at Pixelatl
CARTOON BREW: The number one film in Mexico for three straight weeks has been Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos, which started as a series of web cartoons. How unique is it to have a film that is based on a wholly-Mexican created IP and do you think the film’s performance will have any broader impact on Mexico’s animation scene?
JOSE IÑESTA: This is particularly exciting! I have seen the property evolve from a couple of video jokes between eggs to a full IP, and I hope it continues to grow. It proves that we are ready to create and produce world-class properties. Mariachi Zombie is another IP that was recently optioned to become a 52-episode TV series. These projects show that we are getting there; slowly we are starting to create success stories that I hope continue to evolve and spread in the local industry so that more content is produced in the country for global audiences.
CARTOON BREW: What are the major obstacles right now that prevent Mexican animators from gaining a bigger foothold globally and having more original Mexico-created ideas, both TV and feature, brought to market?
JOSE IÑESTA: I believe that there are two challenges. The first one is that the animation industry is not well understood by investors and the government, and this creates challenges for access to capital, financing, and incentives, as well as finding venture capitalists who are willing to see properties evolve. In Mexico, we don’t have a fund to develop animated series for television, and the TV networks only produce telenovelas. The animated feature films are done with lots of sacrifices by using an incentive for live-action feature films called EFICINE. Instead of paying taxes to the government, companies can use this incentive for up to US$2 million of their income tax to support film production. However, companies need to complete the movie in one year and release it, which is easier to do for documentaries and live-action than for animation. Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos was funded with this exception, as well as another government aid called FIDECINE, which supports production, post production, and distribution of features up to US$1 million.
The second challenge is to better understand the global market. We need to create content that appeals to all audiences and not only the Latin American community. The market for IPs is bigger than Mexico. Our properties can have a local look, but the stories must be universal. This is something we need to work more on as an industry.
CARTOON BREW: Even though Mexico is one of our closest neighbors, the American animation community doesn’t know much about what’s happening in the country. What do you wish more Americans knew about the Mexican animation scene or misconceptions that you want cleared up?
JOSE IÑESTA: I wish Americans knew that there is an animation industry south of the border, not only to commission services, but also to find creative partners to develop properties. The local artists are trying with their means to create content, but sometimes they require expert advice or somebody to guide them through the process to make their ideas flourish. There is a lot of common ground between the United States and Mexico. I wish we could focus on what we can do together, how we can bring ideas to life that are multicultural and speak to the human heart.
