Netflix Unveils Trailer For Handmade Mexican Stop-Motion Fantasy ‘I Am Frankelda’

The hand-made Mexican stop-motion fantasy feature I Am Frankelda will debut on Netflix on June 12, bringing the gothic imagination of sibling filmmakers Arturo and Roy Ambriz to a global audience. Ahead of the release, Netflix has shared a new international trailer to get audiences hyped for the festival darling and Annie nominee.

Spun off from the popular HBO Max LatAm series Frankelda’s Book of Spooks, the film is set in 19th-century Mexico and follows Frankelda, a gifted writer whose dark fiction is dismissed and suppressed by those around her. After being pulled into her subconscious, she encounters the monsters and fantastical figures born from her imagination, including Herneval, a cursed prince trapped between dreams and nightmares. Together, they confront forces threatening both reality and the fictional world Frankelda created.

The project marks the latest production from Cinema Fantasma, the independent Mexican City-based studio founded by the Ambriz brothers, known for handcrafted stop-motion work rooted in local folklore, horror, and fantasy traditions.

Production design for the film was handled by Ana Coronilla and veteran Disney artist Bruce Zick, while Kevin Smithers composed the original score. The cast includes Mireya Mendoza, Arturo Mercado Jr., and Luis Leonardo Suarez.

In a joint statement, the directors described the film as a deeply personal reflection on storytelling and imagination:

As brothers, we grew up inventing worlds together, drawing, playing, imagining. Over time we understood that fictional characters were not only companions but guides. Sometimes they felt closer than the people around us. They provided us courage, wisdom, and solace. We believe fiction is not an escape from reality but a way of understanding it. A way of converting truth into palatable chunks. I Am Frankelda comes from a lifelong love of storytelling.

At the heart of the film is the relationship between Frankelda and Herneval: creator and creation, voice and echo. We are drawn to the mystery of ideas. We do not know if we invent them or if they find us. We only know that when they arrive, they ask to be brought into the world.

This film is a dream for us. It holds everything we have loved since childhood: monsters, drama, music, color, intensity, culture and worldbuilding. We are moved by characters who feel deeply, who struggle, who transform. Frankelda is about a creator who insists on being heard, even when everything around her says no.