Guillermo del Torothe director and screenwriter from Jalisco, Mexico, has added a new award to his long career as a filmmaker, as recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “Pinocchio” as best animated film at the 94th edition of Oscars.
To receive the statuette, del Toro took the stage with the co-director and co-producer Marc Gustafson and co-producers Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley. Afterwards, he delivered a brief message in support of animation and acknowledged the support and inspiration his family has given him throughout his career.
“animation is cinemaanimation is a genre and it’s ready to take it to the next level, please keep it in the conversation,” he commented at the start of his speech.
He later expressed his gratitude to Netflix and Ted Sarandos — the company’s co-CEO — for “trusting” him and his team to make the film. Additionally, he dedicated the award to the screenwriter Kim Morgan —his wife— whom he calledlove of my lifeto their children and their mother and father.
“They are no longer of this world, but they are here with me (in my heart). i am your son and i love you”, was how Jalisco culminated his speech during the ceremony.
After receiving the Oscar for best animated film, Guillermo del Toro and his team went to the event’s press room to answer questions from the media.
As part of Guadalajara’s responses, he recalled that in Guadalajara “animation has been around since the eighties (…) We started in Super8, then moved to 16mm and finally to 35″, according to reports from Los Angeles Times.
“They also made some great shorts (in the same format) in Mexico City and Monterrey,” del Toro added.
Regarding the technique of stop-motion (also known as stop-motion or stop-motion animation) with which he made “Pinocchio”, he said it was “the most democratic form of animationbecause the others that are regularly used in industry “are too expensive”.
To support this argument, he explained that thanks to frame by frame it is possible “to say exactly what you want without having to spend a fortune” and considered that both Mexico and Latin America “are able to compete with the whole world using the strength of the soul and the artistic power“, California media reported.
Speaking about the conditions that Latin American filmmakers currently face in the United States, he indicated that there have been notable changes from previous eras, although there are still things to be done.
“We’re better, but we’re still missing; Anyway, whenever you do something, you can’t do it just for yourself, but for everyone who comes after you,” Guillermo del Toro said.
Finally, regarding the main differentiator of his adaptation of the “Pinocchio” story, he pointed out that the emphasis was on restating the fundamental elements of the classic book and transferring them to the current context.
“The story we present This is the story of a father who must learn to be a father., not of a son who has to learn to be a son,” he first explained. Immediately, he maintained that “at this time, disobedience is urgent and cannot be postponed in the world. AND We can’t pretend to build something perfectBecause the important thing is that love exists.