{"id":758772,"date":"2026-09-03T16:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/758772\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T16:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:58:09","slug":"mexican-animators-roy-arturo-ambriz-prep-ballad-of-the-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/758772\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican Animators Roy, Arturo Ambriz Prep ‘Ballad of the Phoenix’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMexican animators Roy and Arturo Ambriz<\/a>, the groundbreaking duo behind their country\u2019s first-ever stop-motion animated feature, are hoping to hit a high note with \u201cBallad of the Phoenix,\u201d which the brothers are taking to the Venice Gap-Financing Market<\/a> running Sept. 4 \u2013 6.<\/p>\n

\n\tA stop-motion fantasy inspired by the epic sagas of Mexican lore, it marks the anticipated follow-up to gothic musical \u201cI Am Frankelda<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0a box-office sensation upon its release last year and a watershed moment for Mexican animation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBallad of the Phoenix\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tWritten 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a director\u2019s statement provided to\u00a0Variety, the brothers described \u201cPhoenix\u201d as a film that\u2019s \u201cabout transformation as a path to purpose,\u201d and part of a broader effort \u201cto create a distinctly Mexican cinematic universe that speaks primarily to children, while resonating with wider audiences through its emotional and philosophical depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThrough Virian, we explore responsibility, grief, the passage of time and the emotional complexity of family bonds. She is not a traditional epic hero, but a reflection of the quiet strength required to transform oneself,\u201d the statement read. \u201cThis film explores the need to transcend fear and ego, proposing that true purpose lies in empathy, service and inner peace, an idea we hope resonates long after the story ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBallad of the Phoenix\u201d marks the latest chapter in the incredible story of the Ambriz brothers, whose Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund their first animated short attracted the attention of Guillermo del Toro<\/a> and who later mortgaged their house to make \u201cI Am Frankelda<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking to\u00a0Variety\u00a0from Mexico City, Roy Ambriz<\/a> recounted the duo\u2019s against-all-odds journey, insisting: \u201cNobody thought we could do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe brothers began developing \u201cBallad of the Phoenix\u201d more than 10 years ago, but the film was temporarily shelved when they were commissioned to produce the stop-motion animated series \u201cFrankelda\u2019s Book of Spooks,\u201d which aired on Cartoon Network Latin America and HBO Max. That, in turn, led to \u201cI Am Frankelda<\/a>\u201d \u2014 a feature-length prequel to the TV series \u2014 which was the third highest-grossing film of 2025 in Mexico and was released worldwide on Netflix earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWith their sophomore feature, the brothers look to not only build on their previous success but continue to \u201cpush the limits of what can be done in animation with different aesthetics,\u201d according to Ambriz.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere has not been a lot of exploration of what a Mexican aesthetic could be in animation,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we try to do in each of our films is to create a whole new world, and to add to these worlds some elements that feel really Mexican \u2014 in the relationships between the characters, in some of the aesthetics, how they cook, how they speak, how they dance. That\u2019s what we are trying to achieve \u2014 to expand what the Mexican aesthetic for animation can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo do that, they naturally sought advice from another Mexican pioneer.<\/p>\n

\n\tDel Toro has lent both inspiration and support since Roy reached out as a starstruck film student nearly two decades ago. The relationship deepened when the brothers sent del Toro a rough cut of \u201cFrankelda\u201d \u2014 and admitted they were desperate for help.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe had a lot of debt, we had no idea how to do the distribution of a film. We had no contacts, no idea how it works,\u201d said Ambriz. \u201cThat\u2019s when he started helping us more profoundly. Since then, we have been talking with him daily.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDescribing the three-time Academy Award winner as \u201cour mentor and a really good friend,\u201d Ambriz also shared the pointed advice del Toro offered following the breakout success of \u201cFrankelda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEverybody is going to tell you that for the next film, you have to do it cheaper, and that you have to take less risks. But you have to do completely the opposite,\u201d Ambriz recalled the director saying. \u201cNo one is going to tell you this except me, but I know how this works. You have to go bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBolstered by the extraordinary success of \u201cFrankelda,\u201d the brothers are looking to do just that \u2014 and hoping others will feel inspired to follow in their footsteps.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNow that we proved that these productions can be made in Mexico, and that [\u2018Frankelda\u2019] was a hit on the theatrical release\u2026I really hope that this will help new filmmakers realize that these productions can be made,\u201d Ambriz said. \u201cAnd also, for producers, that it\u2019s a good idea to invest in these kinds of stories and aesthetics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mexican animators Roy and Arturo Ambriz, the groundbreaking duo behind their country\u2019s first-ever stop-motion animated feature, are hoping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[250524,96,18004,2839,250525,56,54,55,10306,250526],"class_list":["post-758772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-arturo-ambriz","tag-entertainment","tag-guillermo-del-toro","tag-movies","tag-roy-ambriz","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-venice-film-festival","tag-venice-gap-financing-market"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}