Mexican animators Roy and Arturo Ambriz, the groundbreaking duo behind their country’s first-ever stop-motion animated feature, are hoping to hit a high note with “Ballad of the Phoenix,” which the brothers are taking to the Venice Gap-Financing Market running Sept. 4 – 6.
A stop-motion fantasy inspired by the epic sagas of Mexican lore, it marks the anticipated follow-up to gothic musical “I Am Frankelda,” a box-office sensation upon its release last year and a watershed moment for Mexican animation.
“Ballad of the Phoenix” tells the story of Virian, a fire-wielding princess who flees home after learning that her father steals souls enabling him to live forever. With the king desperate to preserve power and in hot pursuit, she sets out with her spirit guide Phoenix, seeking truth through alchemy while learning to master her inner world.
Written and directed by the Ambriz brothers, the film is produced by them for Cinema Fantasma, the Mexico City-based animation studio they founded in 2011; Andrea Toca, Rafael Ley and Mario Savino for Woo Films; and Marta Hernaiz Pidal for Cine Vendaval.
In a director’s statement provided to Variety, the brothers described “Phoenix” as a film that’s “about transformation as a path to purpose,” and part of a broader effort “to create a distinctly Mexican cinematic universe that speaks primarily to children, while resonating with wider audiences through its emotional and philosophical depth.”
