Mexico’s Pixelatl Festival Announces All-Star Lineup of Speakers

This morning, Mexico’s Pixelatl Festival announced an all-star group of guests that it will host at its 2016 edition, set to take place September 6-11 in the town of Cuernavaca, Mexico.

The festival and conference is a key gathering spot for Mexico’s animation industry, connecting the country’s up-and-coming studios and artists to creative talent from around the world, including animators, video game artists, illustrators, and writers. This year, the event has invited over 70 guests from 13 countries, including delegations from Quebec and Spain. Key speakers and guests include:

• Kim Jung Gi, master draftsman from Korea
• Shannon Tindle, creator of Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings
• Georgina Hayns, head of puppets at Laika
• Steve Emerson, VFX supervisor at Laika
• Ana Ramirez, visual development at Pixar
• Guillermo García Carsí, co-creator/director, Pocoyo
• Bruce Zick, feature film concept artist/illustrator
• Raul Garcia, director, Extraordinary Tales; feature film animator
• Martin Olson, Phineas and Ferb writer
• Megan Brain, paper sculpture artist, Kubo and the Two Strings
• LeSean Thomas, director/producer, Boondocks, Black Dynamite
• Kris Pearn, co-director of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
• Koji Igarashi, co-producer of Castlevania and director of Bloodstained
• Joel Kuwahara, Simpsons and Bob’s Burger producer, Bento Box founder
• Jöelle Jones, comic author and DC artist
• Jeffrey Yohalem, WGA and BAFTA-awarded screenwriter
• Kinuko, lead animator at Lab Zero Games
• Tony Sandoval, illustrator and graphic novelist
• Mighty Animation
• Joel Burgess, game designer of Fallout4 and Skyrim
• Yibing Jiang, senior shader artist at Naughty Dog
• Fran Krause, author of Deep Dark Fears

Additionally, Pixelatl’s competitive Ideatoon Summit gives an opportunity for Mexican creators to pitch their projects to global entertainment companies to receive feedback and build relationships. The participating companies in this year’s Summit include Cartoon Network, Reel FX, Bento Box, Sony Imageworks, Children’s BBC, NBC Universal, Paramotion Films, Lightbox, and Discovery Kids.

The animation festival portion of Pixelatl, which has traditionally screened shorts, will expand to showcase long-form animation this year. Films that will be screened are Long Way North, Anomalisa, Extraordinary Tales, The Little Prince, Pear Cider and Cigarettes, Capture the Flag, Sabogal, The Rooster of St. Victor, and The House of Magic.

Cartoon Brew has been a major supporter of Pixelatl for the last three years, and that’s because we believe strongly in their mission. Developing an animation industry in a country as large as Mexico is not an easy task, but Pixelatl has put forth a compelling model for how a private organization can help the industry mature, both by helping artists develop their craft and connecting them to the broader global animation community. It’s absolutely an event worth checking out if you are working in animation or comics in Mexico.

Also, this year, the event will again offer attendees the use of the Cartoon Brew Lounge, an area where conference attendees can take relaxed meetings, enjoy refreshments, and otherwise have a breather from all the excitement:

For more information on attending, visit ElFestival.mx.

(Pictured at top, from left to right: Ana Ramirez, Kim Jung Gi, LeSean Thomas, Kinuko.)