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“Behind every great Hollywood production are the names of hundreds of people who, with their talent, achieve an artistic piece worthy of appreciation. And among the credits, there are more and more Mexicans willing to show that the Aztec country not only produces great directors, but also excellent animators and creative team.“

Mexico’s presence really is being felt on the creative stage worldwide, and their contributions to animation and film have been phenomenal, as evidenced by MANY of the posts on this very blog!

One of those driving Mexican creative muscle is VFS alumnus, Miguel Ortiz. “Originally from Mexico City, he came to Canada to study animation at the Vancouver Film School and, since then, he has been forging a career that includes films such as ‘Suicide Squad’, 'The Dark Tower’ and 'Deadpool 2’.“

With an array of blockbusters already under his belt including Blade Runner 2049, Ortiz is poised to be in the credit scrolls of many more moving forward.

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Thiago Artimonte, VFS graduate, veteran of Brazilian television and for over a decade the director of over 400 works for the largest agencies in the country.

“In his curriculum, he has an international background with a degree in film from the Vancouver Film School, a specialization in scene direction at the New York Film Academy, History of Photography, Italian Cinema, Renaissance and Modern Art at Studio Art Center International in Florence, Italy. He also did Business Administration at Positivo University in Brazil and in 2018, he went to Los Angeles to do a photography workshop at the American Society of Cinematography.

International experience and training have translated into awards: Cannes, London International Awards, El Ojo, Professionals of the Year, Brazil Columnists, Creative Club among others.”

Congrats on the new position with VAPT Filmes, Thiago, it’s well earned!

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A young career certainly doesn’t mean a lack of success, especially when it comes to critical reception. VFS graduate Rodrigo Ferrat has enjoyed a fair bit of critical accolade in his young film career, making him a promising filmmaker to watch!

The most recent of his award-winning productions is “Oh My God!”, an excellent web series that has screened the world over, joining previous winning works like “El Minthó Escarlata“, and intriguing shorts such as “A Prey’s Prayer” and “Expires 2/11″.

This interview dives into the making of Oh My God! and is a delightful sit-down with Rodrigo about the project.

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Game development isn’t easy. Ask almost anyone working in the field and they’ll tell you that from conception to end product, developing a video game is a grueling yet incredibly rewarding endeavor.

VFS graduate Pedro D'Andrea wasn’t scared by the challenge, he was drawn to everything surrounding games as a profession. He even left production engineering in Brazil to pursue a full time career in the games industry! Today, he owns his own Canada-based development studio.

In this podcast interview on the PDJ Show with Raphael Dias, Pedro talks about his journey from college to making games, his tips for project development, his experiences at VFS, the process for finding a publisher, and suggests resources for those interested in game development, along with many other subjects. It’s a good interview to check out!

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Illustration is more than just a pastime or hobby for many, and even more than a profession for many more. For Mexican-born and Tokyo-residing illustrator Julieta Colás, the value of illustration rides much deeper. During her formative years in Monterrey, Julieta suffered from harassment and rejection at the hands of her classmates, leading to an affinity for animated characters, and a desire to create and share animated characters with lonely and disadvantaged children, giving them a swath of new friends to call their own.

Since those days, Julieta’s work has been noticed by some very well known peers, including being offered a position as character animator on Rick and Morty by series co-creator, Justin Roiland, and producing work for Nick, Catoon Network, Disney, ONI, BOOM! and more!

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Talita Younan, a VFS graduate of the acting program, spent two years portraying Katharine Xavier on the long running Brazilian soap Young Hearts, a program that has run since 1995 and become a mainstay in many of the country’s homes.

Since then, Talita has brought the role of Vera Lúcia to life in the program “Crashing Into the Future”, while Calvário, her latest film work, enters post-production. Talita’s career is young and her face fresh, but she’s certainly making a mark and building off her success!

(Talita also really loved seeing snow during her time in Vancouver, a rarity in Brazil!)

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There’s no denying Spider-Man. The franchise is a global juggernaut that may falter, but always arrives all the same, and when it hits, it hits hard. Into the Spider-Verse has been a well deserved award winning masterpiece of animation and film, even winning the Golden Globe and Academy Award for excellence in animated film. It’s also been an opportunity for many brilliant and unique animators to become known for their exceptional effort.

Among those animators are three Dominicans, Anibis Lockward Sotolongo, her husband Juan Alejandro Gómez and José Yapor. José entered the VFS animation program in 2003 and since then has had enjoyed an incredibly prolific career.

“Seeing my animated short, Electronic Arts made me a job offer to make videogame animation shorts where I continued learning the language of cinematography and making relationships in the industry. Later working for Method Vancouver and Sony Pictures Imageworks I have been part of projects like Invictus, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Cloud Atlas, Spiderman: Homecoming, Kingsman: The Golden Circle and more for the last 16 years. The day continues and I hope to continue learning and contributing my knowledge to each new project.“

Whether super heroes or something even more bold, José is an amazing example of the spectacular talent in today’s animation industry.

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It’s not always a direct route to a professional’s greenest pastures, but in VFS graduate Noan Ribeiro’s case it’s been a very pleasant ride. He’s worked extensively in post-production as a visual effects artist, however the short film Dudes sees Noan’s introduction into the world of film directing. Will this become his new career path, or a temporary diversion? Whichever way the path unfolds, the opportunities available to explore other facets of film production are vast and rewarding.

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“I worked as a photographer, lived in Europe, opened a production company with friends of AIC in São Paulo and, after two years working with publicity, I decided to drop everything and come to study at the Vancouver Film School.”

VFS graduate Abel Vargas has enjoyed a fruitful career working huge global film hits such as Black Panther, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Fast and Furious 8 and Smallfoot in his over 10 years as a visual effects professional since the days of making bold choices for his career direction. All things considered, Abel gambled well.

“Just imagine: 15 seconds in total, 5 months of work. Each frame (frame ) was handmade. The level of detail that we put here is nowhere to be found and I love working on that level. “

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There are few goals more universally shared than to be appreciated and valued for the work that we do, to see our name associated with something cool and be able to proudly say “I made that!”, or in the case of large scale film production and animation, helped bring a big idea to life.

Puerto Rico’s Jennifer M. Duverglas, a VFS graduate of the 3D Animation & Visual Effects program, has had the pleasure of seeing her name in the credits crawl thanks to her excellent work on Warner Bros. Animation’s Smallfoot, and will see her name scroll by again soon in The Addams Family on October 19th.

“Es exageradamente brutal. Se siente una sensación bien bonita porque uno está en los créditos. Uno ve su nombre y dice ‘wow de verdad lo hice. No puedo creerlo,”

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Now for something a little different!

Vancouver Film School specializes in creative industries, the entertainment arts, and dominantly what ends up on your screen, big or small. However, there’s an entire juggernaut of personnel working behind the scenes in these industries who keep the screws in and wheels on the road. They’re the reason, in many cases, that such incredible feats of world building and imagination are even able to be made as they are in the first place. Sometimes one’s desire is to break into the industry, to support and build it, but not necessarily be an auteur named in promotional materials.

VFS alumnus Daniel Masuda is someone who exemplifies this role. He’s an accounting and management professional with over a decade of experience working with senior management in companies, including great experience in the film & entertainment industries with companies like Cinesite Vancouver and animation studio Bardel Entertainment. Without people like him, many of these amazing projects would never get off the ground. Sometimes it’s not about being a visionary creator, and we salute everyone who offers this kind of support and experience to keep the industry running smoothly. Thank you!

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“Chris Kummerfeld Quiroa is a renowned Guatemalan filmmaker, who studied film production at Casa Comal and Vancouver Film School. CEO and founder of Hunter 11 Films in Guatemala. His filmography includes award-winning short films, video poetry, music videos, corporate and institutional videos, as well as four feature films such as  Hunting Party, Sobre tigres y quijotes and soon Martin and Margot. He belongs to the generation of the cinematographic boom in Guatemala and has also dedicated his professional and entrepreneurial life to the progress of the film community.”

Chris has earned an great deal of respect for his work in Guatemalan film, and just recently saw the debut of his latest work, a short film titled Misadventures in New Castilla, written by prominent Guatemalan scriptwriter Irene Herbruger. Excellent work on all fronts, Chris!

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“Bill Labonia is part of a new breed of professionals who are linking creativity to commercial “tino”. Although he is still unknown to the Brazilian public, he already has 19 international awards, obtained in just two (2) years as a professional screenwriter, at festivals in Berlin, Los Angeles, Texas, Cannes and Hollywood.“

Between his script writing guide O Guia Pratico do Roteiro de Cinema, the TV writing focused O Guia Pratico dos Roteiros de TV, VFS graduate Bill Labonia is a script doctor and editor guiding countless new and prospective writers and winning handfuls of awards along the way for his own creative works. He was awarded Best TV Drama at Cannes Screenplay Contest in 2016 with his script for Broken Family, the same script that placed second in the Los Angeles Screenplay Contest. He has worked on well over 100 scripts for clients and is quickly becoming a prolific force in the screenwriting world.

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Bia 2.0, starring Maju Souza and Ghilherme Lobo, is a Sao Paulo Film Festival darling and new romantic film bringing together award winning talent from South America to carry out tenured director and scriptwriter Cristiano Calegari‘s vision. Also directing on the film is Lucas Zampieri, a Vancouver Film School graduate of film production, giving him the opportunity to work with some fantastic talents. Congrats on the release, Lucas!

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We’ll let the article speak for itself this time, and for VFS classical animation graduate, Pedro Eboli.

“Entertainment One (eOne) today announced that its new comedy series Cupcake & Dino: General Services, created by Brazilian director Pedro Eboli, will debut in Brazil on Netflix on November 13 and on Disney XD from 15 November 2018. The release is a co-production between eOne and the award-winning Brazilian animation studio Birdo Studios, which is also co-creator of the popular animated series Oswaldo and producer of Clube da Anittinha.“

“Pedro Eboli is a director, animator and illustrator born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He began his career in advertising as an advertising copywriter until he joined the Vancouver Film School’s Classical Animation program in 2007.

In 2013 Pedro sold his first animated TV series “Oswaldo” (Birdo Studios) to Cartoon Network Latin America and to TV Cultura. He also co-directed and co-wrote the program’s first season. A year later, he and Canadian friend Graham Peterson were the finalists on the Nick Shorts program with the “Monster Pack” pitch, which is currently under development. Last but not least, Pedro created “Cupcake & Dino: General Services”, produced by Birdo Studio and eOne Family, serving as director of the show and one of its executive producers. Currently, Pedro works in Vancouver, where the series is being produced.”

What more can we say? Fantastic work, Pedro!

If you’d like to hear more from Pedro about his work, career and projects, he recently sat down with the ICONICast podcast on their 90th episode. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyosRMdONrU

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Who’s better to have at UX Nights than a true industry professional? That’s a draw for the Mexican event that Maria Fernanda Herrera exemplifies. Currently the VP of UX innovation at Citibanamex, this Vancouver Film School Digital Design graduate provided expertise to agencies throughout the Lower Mainland, and will will be a speaker at November’s UX Nights event, “Vol. XLIX Diseñar para el bien o para el mal”! 

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VFS acting graduate André Junqueira is starring in a play called “O Inoportuno” by Harold Pinter at Teatro dos Quatro in Rio de Janeiro, honouring the English actor, director, playwright, poet and screenwriter. Who is André though? Let’s let the posting’s listing of his works tell you better than we ever could:

“André Junqueira has been a professional actor for more than 17 years and has a Bachelor’s degree in Theater. He attended New York Film Academy and Vancouver Film School. In TV, he appeared in the novels “The Other Side of Paradise”, “Età Mundo Bom”, “Sangue Bom”, “Amor a Vida”, “Totalmente Demais”, “Haaja Coração”, “Novo Mundo”. In the theater, he appeared in the plays “Crimes Delicados”, “Sangue de Lars Noren”, “The History of Communism Counted to the Mental Ills”, by Matéi Visniec, “The Man Without Senses”, “For Whom I Go …” and “Between Four Walls ”. In the dance, she performed in the musicals “Chicago”, “Darty Dancing”, and in “Priscilla, The Queen of the Desert”.“

That’s a thorough resume! Amazing career thus far, André!