1 day ago
2
Vivement Lundi! has joined Chilean production company Pista B as a co-producer on “Baptism,” director Hugo Covarrubias‘s debut feature following his Oscar-nominated short “Bestia.”
The project, which utilizes stop-motion to revisit fictionalized family memories from 1980s Santiago, remains in development and is currently securing final co-production and development funding. Production is eyed for 2027.
The feature is being developed as a French-Chilean co-production, with discussions underway for further international partners across Europe and North America. Development support has already been secured from several regional funds following the project’s wins at Ventana Sur’s Animation! and Annecy’s Mifa pitches.
“Baptism” draws on VHS footage from Covarrubias’ family archive, telling the story of his childhood against the backdrop of Chile’s dictatorship and the AIDS-related death of a close relative. The film blends naturalistic domestic moments with dreamlike, oneiric sequences, aiming to recreate a tactile, analogue Santiago through stop-motion techniques.
“It’s a great pleasure to join Hugo and Lucas in this project,” said Jean-François Le Corre of Vivement Lundi! “Stop-motion is a big part of Vivement Lundi!’s DNA. As a producer, I like to combine animation, historical and political topics, and after working on movies like ‘Flee’ by Jonas Poher Rasmussen or ‘No Dogs or Italians Allowed’ by Alain Ughetto, I was looking for such an ambitious and exciting project. ‘Bestia’ is for me one of the most notable short films of recent years, and Mathieu Courtois and I are really proud to be involved in Hugo’s first feature.”
Produced by Lucas Engel at Santiago-based Pista B, “Baptism” anchors a broader slate of experimental, adult-focused animation. Alongside “Baptism,” Pista B is preparing to roll out three new shorts on the festival circuit this year, with a further six expected in 2026.
“I have a hard time doing traditional,” Engel told Variety. “I like error. I like the dirtiness and the rawness and the punkness of this kind of animation.” The upcoming works mix genres heavily, combining horror, satire and surrealism, generally crafted with unconventional materials ranging from thermoplastics to found objects, with some animated using DIY techniques like heat-gun distortion or analogue-video layering.
Though rooted in Chile, Pista B functions as an informal network, with visual artists and animators collaborating fluidly across projects.
“We’ve kind of created a cooperative between all these directors, animators and artists,” Engel explained. “Everyone changes roles across projects and helps each other out. It’s something beautiful.” Many are alumni or former collaborators of filmmakers like Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña (“The Wolf House”), and the team often operates out of a shared workshop space in Santiago.
This exciting set of storytellers chases punk-inflected irreverence, challenging traditional animation pipelines. “It may look niche,” Engel said, “but I think that niche is becoming much more commercial. People are hungry for something different.”
English (US) ·