Jan 17, 2024

See incredible animations by Colombian artists.

The eyes of the animation world turned to Colombia this week, but not for the reasons that local artists boast. That's because Colombia's animation scene has been experiencing a fantastic artistic and commercial boom over the past few years, and it deserves to be celebrated.

With that in mind, we highlight some of our favorite studios, productions, and artists of the past few years, as well as a few projects we've been keeping an eye on.

Santiago Caicedo's 2017 black-and-white feature Virus Tropical has had a great festival run, including competition screenings at Annecy, Berlin, Cartagena, and SXSW. Based on the graphic novel of the same name and produced by Timbo Estudio, the feature film was nominated for the Colombian Academy Macondo six times and won twice. This moving film features Paola, a young Latin American woman from a traditional family fighting for her independence in difficult circumstances.

Diego Felipe Guzman's futuristic feature film without dialogue, The Other Shape, had a remarkable run at the 2022 Festival, screening in the Contréchamps section at Annecy and winning Best Animated Feature at Sitges. This science fiction film takes place in an artificially created paradise on the moon, where only the fit are allowed to enter. Animation was produced by Hiero Animacion and Dinamita Animacion of Bogota.

We interviewed directors Angelica Restrepo and Carlos Bellandia about their animated short "All My Scars Vanish in the Wind," which was nominated for an Academy Award last year. The film follows the protagonist on a journey through a world of imperfect memories as she recalls painful events from her childhood in rural Colombia. The short was screened in competition at a number of international film festivals, including Annecy, Fantoche, and Encounters, the latter of which awarded it the prize for Best Animated Short Film.

Mexico's Pixelatl is one of Latin America's leading animation festivals, and each year it asks local studios to submit trailers. Last year, however, Bogota-based Silvia Prietov's Lucy Animation Studio was the first outside of Mexico to receive such a request. This outstanding studio has worked for Marvel, Cartoon Network, Fox's Bento Box, Sony, and other world-class companies. Lucy is currently working on a trippy animated short titled Mitomorfosis.

Juan M. Urbina's Venturia Animation Studio has been producing great work for several years. We were blown away by the studio's contribution to the short film Waldo's Dream, which spoofed Disney in 2018. A few years later, Venturia animated the music video for the Goo Goo Dolls' holiday song "You Ain't Getting Nothing," and last year, Beebee Lesha and Snoop Dogg's marijuana-themed single "Satellite," Hannah The group created an animated music video inspired by Barbara.

Bogota-based Caballo Loco Studios is an up-and-coming studio that recently caught the eye of global players; in 2020, the studio will be pitching an animated pilot, "Astropackers," to Cartoon Network and Pixelatl's pitching program, and a full-length pilot will be produced. The pilot was a hit at Weird Market in Spain, where it won the pitching award, and another standout at the latest edition of Animation! at Ventana Sur last November,

Ventana Sur, was "Rick and Morty" and " Entreverao (Uncle's Song), a short film project by Colombian Miguel Otalora, creator of Solar Opposites. Produced by Colombia's Dinamita Animación, the project won the Weird Animation Award at Ventana Sur, and the short, produced in 2D, is currently in development and revolves around an illegal mine where demons protect underground workers after an explosion. As is typical of demons from hell, their protection comes at a price.