Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘The Houses of Achille’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?
I started programming without knowing that it was animation when I was 9 years old in Mexico, with the LOGO software. 16 years later while I moved to Italy, a Mexican musician (Anan) contacted me to make an animated music video for a song. From there my dream of becoming an animator and creator of music videos evolved. I'm a music nerd and I always wanted to make music videos, and when this opportunity presented itself to me, I couldn't say no, although I didn't know how to really do it. I have had the pleasure of working with many of my favorite artists, collaborating with people like Viagra Boys, Sean Lennon, Deerhoof, Metz, Tropical Fuck Storm, Marnie Stern, Descartes a Kant, etc. In addition, I have made some short films under the direction of European directors, and recently the Astrosphere movie by the musician and director Luis Humberto Navejas was released, where I was able to animate a significant percentage within the film together with my wife and visual artist Debora Panaccione.
Tell us about ‘The Houses of Achille’. How do you describe it?
It is a psychedelic and amazing dream after you get insolation for spending a lot of time playing under the sun. It is a dip in children's imagination, an intimate exploration towards our inner child. Reminding us of the few rules we had in our heads before we insisted on being adults. The Houses of Achille is a fantastic story that my nephew told me one day that we were sitting in the living room of my in-laws' house, waiting for the hellish heat of the Italian summer to pass. So after a hundred hours of listening to Achille tell me absurd stories I decide to record an infinite audio of his fantastic ideas. Talking to him always fills me with ideas and new points of view that only a 5-year-old can have, and that thanks to him I wake up and keep alive.
Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.
Right now I am in a contemplative period where I only see Japanese cinema. Recently I finished seeing all the filmography of Hirokazu Koreeda, I highly recommend it if you want to change the way of narrating a story. But my true passion and what I do every morning while eating cereal is watching cartoons. My favorite animations are: Superjail, Shrek Retold, Mad God, Spongebob, Hey Arnold, Aaah !! Real Monsters, Robot Carnival, Memories of 1995, KaBlam!, anything from Bill Plympton, Celebrity Deathmatch, and recently became a lover of Bluey, among many other shows or movies that I adore.
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
An animated series. But even if I had a good budget, I always prefer to work with few resources, I feel that it gives me the freedom to experiment with what I have on hand without resorting to fancy magic tricks or expensive instruments. I like to play, and not having a defined budget helps me to do it with my imagination constantly. You can see it in my works, there is always a handmade feature in them, I prefer to edit videos with very basic software and animate with what I find in the garbage dump that I call ¨my studio¨.
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
I write everything that has to be done on a sheet, and I follow the list, not always in order, but everyday, my goal is to finish as many tasks as possible. I am not saying that it is not worth being distracted, a good idea can come also when you are distracted, there are days that I do nothing but watch the sealing, but when there are things to do, what ensures me to finish everything in time is: discipline. I don't mean discipline as getting out of bed at 6 am, but I have my daily routine and follow it until I finish the proposed project. No excuses! I love my job, so no pain in the process, only learning :)
What was the hardest part of making ‘The Houses of Achille’.
There were no difficult parts, everything went natural and flowed very easily. From the gesture of recording Achille's fantastic stories, to drawing the scenes and giving them life. Actually the realization of the animation took me a few days of work, I am a workaholic, and in my head it seemed that his words came to life and gave rise to images that naturally shot out of my hand.
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work? Right now I am working on various music videos for international groups. Because those projects are singles or materials that have not yet been released, I cannot say anything other than take a look at my work to discover what will be published in the coming months. I am also dedicating myself to carrying out a series of underground animation screenings with a group of Italian animating beautiful friends called SERATO ANIMATO. Our idea is to bring experimental animation to everyone in a nomadic format of talks and screenings with directors and entertainers. Invite us to your city! We would love to come and share with you!
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