Jun 30, 2021

Jorge Gutiérrez, Sandra Equihua and Aska Animation team up for Pixelatl's 2021 trailer (exclusive premiere)

Pixelatl will celebrate its tenth birthday online: the Mexican animation, comics, and video game festival is planning a virtual edition for September 7–11. Like last year, Latin America's animation community will gather online for screenings, workshops, lectures, and networking opportunities.

The organizers hint at the effects of the pandemic in this year's slogan, We Need Each Other. The sentiment is at the heart of the trailer created by Guadalajara's Aska Animation Studio, with characters designed by Sandra Equihua and Jorge Gutiérrez (known for co-creating Nickelodeon's El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera and collaborating on the feature The Book of Life). Cartoon Brew is delighted to premiere the trailer for Pixelatl 2021:

The setting of the short film, or “cineminuto,” evokes The Book of Life: a girl in the land of the dead reflects wistfully on her past life, before being cheered by the company of others. Pixelatl's theme was first interpreted by Equihua and Gutiérrez in their poster for the festival (see bottom of page), which served as a starting point for the trailer.

Aska Animation was founded three years ago and now employs over 40 animators, with a focus on 2d productions. Below, studio director Oscar Hernández tells us how his team developed the concept for the trailer, and how they went about turning Equihua and Gutiérrez's characters into animation …

Hernández's answers were sent by email and edited for clarity and brevity.