Go behind the scenes of I Am Frankelda with directors Arturo & Roy Ambriz! Read about their Guillermo del Toro “Jedi training” and Netflix journey.
I Am Frankelda is a stunning, stop-motion feature film that serves as a beautiful love letter to artistic expression. With its unique blend of cartoonish charm and intricate, grotesque textures, the film creates a captivating world of monsters who sing, love, and feel deeply. Beyond its enchanting world-building, the movie carries a powerful and timely message for younger generations: their voices deserve to be heard and art is always a journey worth pursuing.
Mama’s Geeky sat down with the visionary filmmaking duo, directors, writers, and producers Arturo and Roy Ambriz, to discuss the incredible highs and grueling lows of bringing this stop-motion film to life. From overcoming industry doubters in Mexico who said a stop-motion feature was impossible to receiving “Jedi training” under the mentorship of cinema legend Guillermo del Toro, the brothers open up about the literal tears, sweat, and 200 handmade puppets that made this film a reality.
Arturo and Roy Ambriz Talk I Am Frankelda
Mama’s Geeky: Can you talk about the inspiration behind the story, because I really love how it is like a love letter to our artisticness.
Arturo Ambriz: The reality is that when we were writing the script, we were facing some of the challenges that Frankelda has in the film. We were in a moment in our lives when a lot of producers in Mexico told us that we should not be trying to do our films because it was impossible… and it was really difficult to have distribution in Mexico because they said that nobody wanted to watch this film because it was weird and it made the public to think. So all that anger, all that frustration that we had, we use it as fuel in order to write the story of Frankelda. And to do this film was like therapy for us.
Roy Ambriz: For us, it’s very important to tell the younger audiences that their voices can be heard, that art is worth pursuing. And that expression is a basic instinct of human beings. I think they need that lesson more importantly than we needed it because of the times that we are living.
Mama’s Geeky: Now it’s going to be a Netflix movie. What was it like working with Netflix?
Roy Ambriz: Oh, we’re so thankful with them. This has been an amazing experience. They really helped finish the film because the film isn’t finished until the audience watches it. We were so exhausted making this film, but Netflix has become like a fresh air that is giving us the extra life.
Mama’s Geeky: I got to talk about Guillermo del Toro too, because he’s so amazing. What is it like working with him and really getting into his brain with these sorts of things like stop-motion?
Arturo Ambriz: I think that working with Guillermo is the best experience in my life… It’s more like if we were kind of, it’s like Jedi training in which he’s our tutor, our mentor, and we are his padawans. And he only shows us the way, but we have to do everything by ourselves. He doesn’t help us by the hand because he wants us to learn because this craft and this profession is really difficult.
Mama’s Geeky: I hate spiders, so I was not a fan of Procustes at first. Can you talk about balancing the character design and making sure it wasn’t going to terrify little kids?
Arturo Ambriz: Each character is balanced in these two ways, the texture versus the silhouette and the features of the faces. If you watch his face, he’s like a really good character and kind of fun. But if you look at all the details, there’s like a grotesque element.
Roy Ambriz: We wanted to create characters that people wanted to see more of. There’s a charm in them. There’s, even though they’re very sophisticated, there’s also a simplicity in them. And we wanted to do our own version of monsters that were very artistic, very passionate.
Mama’s Geeky: What was your reaction seeing the finished movie, getting to see it all completely done after years and years?
Arturo Ambriz: Well, there’s crying involved. I’m not gonna lie. Some people like my brother Roy, enjoy watching it almost daily. Some people prefer to watch the corner of the screen in order to avoid watching the whole picture. But it’s definitely impacting.
To hear more about the magical moment the puppets came to life, how they built 200 puppets across three different scales, and the brothers’ reaction to a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score for I Am Frankelda, watch our full video interview.
About I Am Frankelda
In 19th-century Mexico, Frankelda is a gifted writer whose dark tales are ignored and dismissed. Forced to suppress her voice, she refuses to give up, even as many try to silence her. But when she is thrust into her subconscious, the very monsters she created come to life.
Guided by Herneval, a tormented prince trapped between dreams and nightmares, she must restore balance between fiction and reality before both realms collapse. Meanwhile, the sinister writer Procustes and his conspirators plot to seize control. As Frankelda and Herneval grow closer, their bond becomes both a strength and a curse.
To rewrite their fate, she must confront a love that defies existence and reclaim her power as a storyteller–before dark forces consume her imagination and reveal horrors beyond her creation.
I Am Frankelda comes to Netflix on June 12th.
