In a conversation with The Film Verdict, José Iñesta defined himself as “an animation cheerleader.” In the official words of the Industry Award at the Annecy Festival, “he has contributed to the magnificent Mexican animation adventure, as well as the development of a legitimate industry in the country.”
Iñesta is the co-founder, along with his brother Jordi, of Pixelatl, a platform dedicated to promoting Mexican animation inside and outside the country. To clarify, Iñesta has never done animation of any kind and he doesn’t want to, either; he prefers to use his passion for the genre to inspire vocations and support careers. In Pixelatl’s 12 years of existence, he has helped Mexican animators to organize workshops, seminars, prizes, and shows of their finished work at El Festival Pixelatl, an annual gathering of Latin American creators and industry focused on global animation, comics and videogames, which takes place in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
The Pixelatl site mirrors the philosophy of this group with a yearly manifesto that hopes to inspire the community. (“Dare to believe” is the motto for 2023.) In addition, there are calls for competitions and news. Anyone who has been through Pixelatl is a member of the team, and their achievements make everyone happy. “What we want is to unite Mexico. There are many internal borders, and we want to weave networks, so we can all learn from everybody’s successes and failures. We do this through technology”.
An engineer by training, he began working on computers while collaborating on projects in favor of minors and mothers in precarious situations. In a conversation with his brother, the idea was born to support connecting people in animation, and provide services with a high added value of excellent quality.
“I am the person who blows on an ember so as not to let the fire go out — is there a name for that?” Iñesta asked us. I don’t know, but that person surely deserves the MIFA Animation Industry Award.
