Guillermo del Toro revealed plans to launch the International Animation Center in Guadalajara that will support local artists to create independent short films and movies.
Del Toro himself is now making his animated feature film directing debut for Netflix on “Pinocchio,” which is a stop-motion musical version of the children’s classic.
The new project will be officially called the Centro Internacional de Animación, the CIA, Del Toro said at Guadalajara. Unofficially, it will be known as el Taller del Chucho (“Little Dog Workshop”).
Now, young talent can join the workshop and do any job available in the first instance. “There is no better road than the immediate one. Working your way up is really important. If you are gonna be a filmmaker understand all the elements going into making a film. No moment of being a PA or note-taking or picking up after an animator, none of that is wasted. It’s all super-valuable growth.”
Stop-motion is “one of the few things you can do with little money, with a few friends, at a scale that is possible,” he said.
The center will support and service the burgeoning stop-motion animation industry which already exists in Guadalajara, the director added.
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