Girl Power: Pitch Me The Future development prize awarded to ‘Forgotten Forest’ by Madelein Treviño.
The Pixelatl Association’s El Festival -- Mexico’s leading event linking students and professionals in animation, comics and video games to the international marketplace -- has wrapped its 2018 edition, handing out awards for best animated series, short film, student short, and comic, as well as the new Girl Power: Pitch Me the Future Award, presented in partnership with Cartoon Network.
Running this year September 4-8 in Cuernavaca, Mexico -- about an hour outside of Mexico City -- El Festival was first launched in 2014, and has since grown to become the premiere event of its type to represent a booming industry.
As one of the highlights of the festival, Pixar Animation Studios’ Lee Unkrich was awarded the Chinelo in Animation career achievement award, which last year was given to Oscar-nominated stop-motion director Henry Selick. Visual effects pioneer Phil Tippet received the award in 2015.
The juries for this year’s El Festival featured industry professionals such as Paul Harrod, production designer on Isle of Dogs; Gabriel Osorio, director of the Oscar-winning animated short Bear Story; and Steven Universe and Regular Show writer Kat Morris and art designer Hilary Florido, in addition to major studio and broadcast executives such as Netflix director of content Aram Yacoubian and Amazon Studio development executive Aaron Davidson, among many others.
Madelein Treviño’s El Bosque Olvidado (Forgotten Forest) won Cartoon Network’s pitching competition, “Girl Power: Pitch Me The Future.” The pitching competition was an opportunity for female animators and creators living in Latin America to pitch their original show ideas to Cartoon Network. The competition finalists, announced in August, had the opportunity to pitch their ideas in front of Cartoon Network executives during the festival. As the winner, Treviño will get to develop her project into a series pilot with support from Cartoon Network LatAm and a budget of US$11,000. Once completed, Cartoon Network will screen the pilot on its channels and web platforms.
Edino Ferrara’s Curtis & Bean won the award for Best Animated Series. The 2D animated series is geared towards kids between six and nine years old. The Mexico-Argentina co-production follows two colorful friends who become partners in adventure, trying to make a living just hanging out and chilling.
La Noria (The Ferris Wheel), directed by Carlos Baena and produced by animation and VFX producer Sasha Korellis, took home the award for Best Animated Short. The 3D animated short, inspired by films such as J.A. Bayona’s The Orphanage or Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, displays the director’s roots in his native Spain. Trevor Jiménez’s Weekends, which has been picking up buzz on the festival circuit, was given a special mention.
The full list of 2018 Pixelatl Winners is shown below:
- Best Animated Series: Curtis & Bean, Edino Ferrara
- Animated Series Special Mention: Huge, Diego Herrera León
- Best Animated Short: La Noria, Carlos Baena
- Animated Short Special Mention: Weekends, Trevor Jiménez
- Girl Power: Pitch Me the Future Award with Cartoon Network: Forgotten Forest, Madelein Treviño
- Best Animated Short, Student: Carnival, Azucena Castillo
- Animated Short Special Mention, Student: Kvazar, Alan Girón & Eric Rodríguez
- Best Comic: “El Rumor de los huesos,” Imosh Raritzon
Source: Pixelatl
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
