Pixelatl, the Mexican festival on animation, comics and video games

With 90 guests from 13 countries, the sixth edition of the Pixelatl Festival will focus on diversity and will have more than 120 activities between conferences, workshops, and panels, from September 5 to 10, in Cuernavaca, Morelos.

The Pixelatl project, which focuses on animation, video games, and comics, promotes the creation and diffusion of Mexican narratives and contents, to expand productions and reach national and international audiences.

They informed in a statement that there will be representatives of countries such as Canada, Chile, Spain, United States and Poland, and highlighted that this year's encounter has focused around the concept of "Mézclate" (mix up), in response to the international tendencies favoring division.

Director of the festival, José Iñesta, mentioned that regarding on the racism and classism in Mexico, “this year we try to make people think on how this is also an obstacle for economic development and for the entertainment industry .”

Inspired by the idea of Mexican philosopher, Leopoldo Zea (1912-2004), author of the phrase “ We're all equal because we're all different, ” Iñesta acknowledged the effort of the organizers to prove teamwork can generate an economic revolution.

“It's mostly generosity on the part of high profile figures like these, to come to a country with such a poor industry and share their knowledge, and encourage professional networks to help it grow, ” he said.

Pixelatl said this edition will have guests such as Henry Selick , stop motion director whose works includes Coraline and Google Spotlight Stories , who will present the Mexican VR short film “El hijo del Jaguar” ( Son of the Jaguar ), by Jorge Gutiérrez.

Other guests include Oscar-winner Hal Hickel , animation supervisor of Industrial Light & Magic; David Wise , video game soundtrack composer, who in addition to an open class will also offer a concert; and Mexican artist Alonso Ramírez Ramos , Emmy-winner and currently an employee at Disney.

The festival confirmed that international professional networks are the “heart” of the event, as is the case of Villainous , intellectual property of Mexican Alan Ituriel, which is currently being produced by Cartoon Network.

There is also the option of signing agreements between foreign and Mexican studios in search of financing, like Color Monsters, created my Mexican studio Vanilla Studio of which Joan Lofts has become the executive producer.

On this phenomenon, José Iñesta says “success cases multiply each year. We're one step closer of breaching into the international market, thanks to the talent and effort of the Mexican studios.”

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