There is great irony in the Cinema of Mexico; while the government has cut all budgets, the scholarships for creators and even the most important festivals that the country holds, there are personalities that insist in lifting Mexico up.
In 2022, Pinocchio made its debut, a new version of the classic tale, but in the hands of the acclaimed Guillermo del Toro, a Mexican filmmaker who produces in the U.S., but has never forgotten the country that made him.
And this film was surely a surprise since it took a story everyone knew but with a perspective that none of us had seen, it once again suggested that children and adults are capable of reflecting on the same issues, and challenged intelligent minds that have grown accustomed to easy filmmaking of superheroes, good girls and broken hearts.
Guillermo del Toro has been a special creator from his first films, but every time that he reveals something new, he also does it by the hand of technology without underestimating the spectators’ intelligence.
He says himself that animation films are not a genre and least of all only for children, quite the opposite, it is filmmaking in itself and it needs to be given the opportunity to see the topics it can explore.
The truth is that animation is a sector that is constantly moving forward, it finds support on the advances and continues to surprise audiences of all generations; however, perspectives like Guillermo del Toro’s helps us see that these are not just camera tricks or animating dolls frame by frame (as in the case of Pinocchio), it is still fundamental to have a well-built story, intelligent arguments, premises that make people think, and have the audience continue talking about of them for a long time.
Guillermo is also colleague and friend of Alfonso Cuarón, another prestigious Mexican filmmaker whose son also would like, precisely, to engage in animation films. This is Olmo Cuarón, a young 17 year old who is preparing himself to succeed in this sector of the big screen and whose first works are in his YouTube channel to see.
Let’s not forget that Guillermo del Toro himself is a great promotor for new generations of filmmakers who he encourages to try and create their own works, to study and be prepared to inject more life into filmmaking than it has today.
It is likely that in upcoming years we will see Olmo Cuarón’s name on the screen, since filmmaking and animation run through his veins, something he has made clear to this day.
