Pure Talent: The Good Moment and Promising Future of the Animation Industry in Chile

October 28 marks World Animation Day, a date that commemorates the first public screening of French animation pioneer Émile Reynaud's Théâtre optique (Optical Theater). The screening, which was held at the Musée Grevin in Paris in 1892, included three short films entitled 'Poor Pierrot', 'A Clown and His Dogs' and 'A Good Bock'.

Today, 128 years after Émile Reynaud made history, we celebrate an industry that in recent years has gained a lot of strength in Chile. Currently, there are several national audiovisual production companies that have managed to position themselves abroad thanks to the content, creativity and aesthetic quality of their films. The talent of the creators and the professionalization of the industry were some of the keys that made Chilean animation begin to position itself and go out to conquer the world. 

The turning point for the animation industry made in Chile, came in 2016, when the short film 'Bear Story' ('Historia de un Oso') became the first Chilean production and the first animation in Latin America to win an Oscar, thus becoming a nationally and internationally recognized industry. This historic milestone was the impetus needed to show the world the talent and work of the teams behind Chile's animated productions. 

We talked to Niles Sallah, from the audiovisual production company Diluvio, about why the animation industry is enjoying such good health and how it is that in recent years our country has managed to position itself on the world stage as a respectable competitor when it comes to producing animated material. According to the filmmaker, there are several changes that have improved the animation industry in Chile. Among them, first, is the end of the barrier of technology and digitalization. In the artist's words, "more or less 20 years ago the industry began to democratize, due to the change in technology, the number of cameras and digital processes. That has meant a very big change, and in the last two decades, the industry has emerged because of that: now there are people making films with phones and it is fast, cheap and accessible", says Sallah. 

Another factor that has boosted the quality of national productions has been, according to Álvaro Ceppi of the Zumbastico production company, the professionalization of the industry, which has led to a large number of trained and talented artists. "Chilean animation has grown a lot in the last 20 years. From a place where only commercials were made, to one with its own ideas produced by talented Chilean artists, trained even before there were schools. The first ones were self-taught, now there are seven animation schools in Santiago alone," explains Ceppi. 

Likewise, the availability of funds such as the Audiovisual Fund, the National Television Council, Corfo, among others, has made it possible to promote and activate this industry. "A virtuous circle has been generated between better quality, academic training, greater production due to state support, and consequently, internationalization," says Zumbastico's producer. 

Chilean animation has managed to grow and develop, positioning itself internationally as a product of good quality both technically and in terms of creative content. Productions such as 'Hostal Morrison' (Productora Pájaro) and 'Puerto Papel' (Zumbastico Studios), among others, have been seen all over the world. In the same sense, Álvaro Ceppi recognizes that "it is important to understand that although we [Chileans] do not have a very recognized history in international animation, in recent years we have managed to generate a very important presence in festivals, markets, etc., obviously due to public and private support". 

Production companies Made in Chile that are taking it to

Some of the main Chilean animation production companies that are setting the standard include: 

• Zumbastico: is an animation studio with 17 years of continuous work, with 9 finished animated series. They produce original content and have several outstanding works such as 'Zumbastico Fantástico' in 2010, which was the first Latin American original content to reach Cartoon Network. Puerto Papel, another of their important works, is a two-season series, which is present in more than 50 countries around the world, produced together with the Globo network in Brazil, Colombian public TV and Argentina, translated into more than 20 languages. This production has won more than 20 international awards, both for the creativity of its story and for its hybrid technique, which combines stop motion with 2D digital animation drawn in the integration of the characters' faces. This technique, which they call Paper Motion, was very prominent in the international industry and allowed them to be associated with recognized international production companies, and led to the sale of part of the production company to the Pipeline studio in Canada. Currently, Zumbastico has just finished a series for Disney and Natgeo Kids -which won the national TV council fund- called Doggie World, their first series produced entirely in English.

 

• Flood: its main animated creation, is the film 'Casa Lobos', produced by Niles Atallah and Catalina Vergara, and directed by Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León. It is a stop motion animated feature film, which was awarded in 2018 at the Berlin Film Festival. They are currently developing a new film, which will include 3D animations.

 

• Punkrobot Studio: 3D animation studio, created by Antonia Herrera, Gabriel Osorio, María Elisa Soto-Aguilar and Pato Escala. Since 2008, they have developed projects for television, advertising and film with high visual impact, including the preschool series 'Flipos' (2010), 'Las aventuras de Muelín y Perlita' (2013) and the animated short film 'Historia de un oso' (2014), winner of the first Oscar Award for animation in Latin America and the first in the history of Chile. They are currently working on the preschool series 'Guitarra y Tambor' and a feature film project.

 

• Pájaro: Bernardita Ojeda is the director of this Chilean animation production company. Their latest work, the animated series 'Petit', based on the book 'Petit, the Monster', was nominated in the Preschool category of the International Emmy® Kids Awards. They also won the OEI award for best Ibero-American film at DIVERCINE number 29.

 

• Marmota Studio: they started creating original Cartoons on YouTube. In 2017 they won the Audiovisual Fund. Their most popular animation is 'Hit hard Hara', series of Cartoon Network LA. They currently have 3 webseries: 'Cetacean People', 'Grandpa Com', and 'Magic Nadki'.