Guadalajara, the quintessential Mexican capital of tequila, charros, and delicious food, should also be better known for its other great quality: its dedication to animated film, both in production and promotion. Let’s start with a fact: Guillermo del Toro himself is from Guadalajara, and he’s behind several initiatives for the creation and distribution of animated films.
Before Guillermo del Toro there was Rigo Mora, with whom del Toro had a friendship and worked together on several projects in Guadalajara, and we especially remember del Toro’s first film, CRONOS, in 1992. Rigo Mora was a renowned animation and stop-motion artist, and since 2010 the Guadalajara Film Festival has named the award for best animated short film RIGO MORA.
The Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) is a very important film event, especially for animated films. Guillermo del Toro frequently visits the festival, and the main auditorium of the Guadalajara film archive is named after him. And although Guillermo del Toro no longer lives in Guadalajara (and fortunately for Canadians, he has had a home in Toronto for a long time), he works a lot with animators from Guadalajara; the renowned director and stop-motion artist Rita Basulto worked on PINOCCHIO, and several sequences of that film were made at El Taller del Chucho.
EL TALLER DEL CHUCHO was founded in 2019 by Guillermo del Toro and the University of Guadalajara, and is described on its website as an animation studio that encourages local talent, fostering a space for production, innovation, dissemination, and promotion of the film industry.
El Taller del Chucho occupies seven abandoned industrial buildings on the outskirts of Guadalajara. With Guillermo del Toro’s vision, these spaces were rehabilitated, transforming them into a centre for creativity and production. Today, these buildings house one of the most advanced stop-motion studios in the world.
I AM FRANKELDA, the first stop-motion feature film made in Mexico, is also from Guadalajara.
Another reason why Guadalajara is the animation capital of Latin America is the recent release of I AM FRANKELDA, the first stop-motion feature film made in Mexico. It had to be a Guadalajara-based production, of course, with the support of Guillermo del Toro. The production, which took years to complete, premiered in 2025 and was a true exercise in craftsmanship and a technical challenge. The directors—brothers Roy and Arturo Ambriz—and a big team used more than 200 puppets and 50 sets, all handcrafted without the use of green screens in Mexico.
At VLAFF, several animated short films from Guadalajara have been screened, showcasing some of the best artists in this genre not only from Mexico but from across Latin America. Rita Basulto, a seven-time winner of the Mexican Academy Award for short films such as HUMO and LLUVIA EN LOS OJOS; Sofía Carrillo, specializing in stop motion, another Academy Award-winning artist whose work has been exhibited at more than 50 festivals; and other award-winning directors include Juan Medina (JAULAS, ZIMBO) and Karla Castañeda (JACINTA, LA NORIA).
We share with you the stop-motion short film EL OCTAVO DIA, LA CREACIÓN, a beautiful work co-directed by Rita Basulto and Juan Medina. This film won the Academy Award in Mexico and the Havana Film Festival Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2001.