A Star-Studded Mexican Connection
Pixelatl Festival director José Iñesta says this year’s virtual edition will feature a record number of special guests and inspiring events.
Pixelatl Festival director José Iñesta says this year’s virtual edition will feature a record number of special guests and inspiring events.
Nothing can replace the magical ambiance and the beautiful backdrop of Cuernavaca, Mexico. But the organizers of this year’s online Pixelatl Festival have done their best to offer an amazing line-up of animation stars and visionaries from all over the world for this year’s virtual event. The online festival, which takes place September 1-5 this year, will offer audiences all over the world to learn more about the art and business of animation from some of the world’s most sought-after artists.
“There is so much that’s happening at our virtual festival this year,” says the festival’s popular director José Iñesta, who is now in his ninth year of planning the event. “First, I have to mention some of the people who are participating in our conference: Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe), Tristan Oliver (Isle of Dogs), Sofía Alexander (Mexican creator of Onyx Equinox), Jorge Gutiérrez (Mexican creator of Maya and the Three), Mike and Julie Scully (Duncanville), illustrator Lois Van Baarle (“Loish”), Julia Pott (Summer Camp Island), Simon Chong (Bob’s Burgers), Yingjue Chen (Wizards), Eisner-nominated Colombian comic-book artist Lorena Alvarez, Magdiela Duhamel (The Casagrandes), writer Taneka Stotts (Steven Universe),
Mike Hollingsworth (BoJack Horseman), Bento Box co-founder and producer Joel Kuwahara, Pete Michels (Family Guy, The Simpsons) and a long list of amazing talent that will participate in our event.”
Iñesta says he and his team did a massive amount of research to see how other live events had made the transition to the virtual world to make Pixelatl stand out. “We also changed some of our activities and formats in order to create similar experiences online,” he says. “This last part was a major challenge because we needed to find out how we could make our audience feel that they are in an event that is going to change their lives, because this is what Pixelatl has been doing for the past eight years.”
He adds, “The biggest challenge for me was to give up the possibility of doing the festival live in Cuernavaca. It took me and the team about a month to mourn that we weren’t going to be able to do the event on-site. After we moved on from that grief, our biggest challenge has been with technology. No matter how many times we rehearse or plan, when we go live something happens. We had to learn new tools and apps because we are trying to create an unforgettable user experience in addition to the challenges of organizing and producing the event. Of course, I’m sure part of the charm of Pixelatl was coming to Mexico to discover a beautiful city, eat Mexican food and meet face to face with the thriving Latin American community. However, I think we have the opportunity to reach more people interested in animation, comics and games around the world by being virtual this year.”
Among the other programming highlights:
The creator of Crunchyroll’s Aztec anime series Onyx Equinox Sofia Alexander will be joined by supervising director Kuni Tomita and producer Marisa Balkus. The show centers on a young Aztec boy who is saved from death by the gods and chosen to act as “humanity’s champion.”
Cartoon Network Latin America will present the world premiere of a secret show, which is inspired by Mexican culture.
Marge Dean, president of Women in Animation, will lead a presentation of Women in the World of Animation, Mexico.
Cartoon Network Latin American will also offer a showcase of original IP being developed in Mexico along with Cinema Fantasma, Azur Eneas (Mexico), Ricardo Scioville (Colombia) and Matisse Gonzalez (Bolivia). Gonzalez, the winner of the festival’s #GirlPower call for pitches with Cartoon Network, will present her acclaimed show pilot.
Portland’s stop-motion powerhouse Laika will celebrate its 15th anniversary with five department heads in individual panels with students and stop-motion focused portfolio reviews.
A panel featuring Latinx Talent in Animation organized by Bryan Dimas.
Special panels featuring talent from Nickelodeon, Disney, ILM and others.
A presentation of Pixelatl’s first Best Latin American Game of the Year Award.
Despite all the challenges, Iñesta believes 2020 is a great moment for Latin American animation. “Most of the studios have been working from home even before the COVID-19 crisis, so they haven’t stopped working at all,” he notes. “The biggest studios gave computers to their employees so that they could work from home and don’t stop the production pipeline. Even during the pandemic crisis, animation work is on the rise — not only for Mexico, but for all of Latin America.”
Iñesta leaves us with some excellent tips to get the best of the experience: “My first tip is to learn the program,” he offers. “There is a lot of content for a one-week event. Decide which activities are live and won’t be available in our library for the extra week and try to participate in those during the festival, save the others for a later time. Participate in the virtual ‘garden,’ where everybody will have tables or spaces to interact. See conferences or panels that you wouldn’t normally attend. Our content is very diverse, but you can learn about other disciplines to improve your artistry. Of course, I’ll miss seeing everyone in person. Part of Pixelatl’s magic was that you could find peers, friends, possible partners or bosses in a garden. This year, we will have a digital garden and can see each other through our computer screens!” ◆
For more info, visit pixelatl.com.