iKartoons: Our film Catalina, La Catrina could become a series

The animated film Catalina, la Catrina, which debuted exclusively on Televisa’s Blim TV in Mexico last week, could become a series, according to its creators Jorge Otero, Peter López and Edino Israel of iKartoons Animation.

According to Edino Israel, the intention was to take this project into a series, depending on the results of the film, that will also be broadcasted on Televisa’s free-to-air TV and eventually arrive to the US through the Televisa-Univisión merger. In addition, Catalina, la Catrina, is one of the movies included in the opening of the Miami Ibero-American Film Festival that takes place in November.

“This animated film was born from an idea of the Televisa executive, Genaro Díaz, who in 2018 consolidated a character that would speak and have live interaction with children on the Day of the Dead in Mexico. In 2020 iKartoons was commissioned to redesign the character,” said Israel, who is a co-founding partner of iKartoons and director of the Catalina, la Catrina special.

With the redesign of Diaz’s character, iKartoons produced a short animation for the Day of the Dead in 2020 which had such a positive impact that led to the production of the animated film. “They chose us to continue this rebranding of Catalina, taking her to a different position,” he said.

For the film, iKartoons worked with a team of more than 80 people in Mexico, Miami, Colombia and Argentina. “We created a universe for the character, a deeper motivation and all the logic of what happens behind the Day of the Dead, which is a well-known holiday, but we give her a fantastic background to explore universal themes,” Edino Israel explained.

iKartoons has already sold two animation IPs – a series and a movie – to two companies and they are working on another animated series with Televisa, creating the character, oriented to another audience and theme. “It is a beautiful model that we found with Televisa. To build characters, then to imprint them and position them, so that later they have a specific purpose, moving the audience to consume that product,” he pointed out.

“We are at a stage where there is much to do and the content is being well-received, especially if it has a good message,” Israel emphasized.

Edino Israel has 20 years of experience in the animation industry, working on projects for Disney and Cartoon Network. He also was responsible for the character design and storyboard of the Argentine film Metegol.