The Team

SPECIAL ADVISORS TO ESCENA ANIMATION STUDIO

We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have been able to rely on the advice, insight and wisdom of seasoned professionals who have been instrumental in giving shape to all of our endeavors.

  • Sandra Rabins is one of the most respected Live Action and Animation Executives in the industry. She is known for her ability to assemble top artistic talent, problem solve and streamline productions.

    Born and raised in Hollywood, Rabins began her career at Paramount Pictures.

    In 1985, she moved to Walt Disney Studios where she was responsible for establishing the production entities to create and animate Roger Rabbit, Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. She was also instrumental in helping PIXAR establish itself as a digital film entity to create Toy Story. In addition to working on up to twenty studio films a year, her responsibilities included overseeing traditional animation as well as Theme Park Films

    From 1990-1993 she was the Senior Vice President of Production and Finance for Buena Vista Pictures and worked over sixty pictures including, The Joy Luck Club and Blank Check. Later that year she was an Independent Executive Producer on the summer hit Dangerous Minds, starring Michelle Pfeiffer once again working with Walt Disney Pictures.

    Always attracted to new challenges, Rabins helped build the animation division of DreamWorks Studios from scratch and was instrumental in the purchase of PDI, helping to build it into a digital effects theatrical giant. Rabins produced DreamWorks' first traditionally animated feature, The Prince of Egypt and followed that up with the computer animated Antz, which marked the first feature from PDI/DreamWorks. In 2001, Rabins served as an executive producer on the computer animated blockbuster box office hit, Shrek, which won the first Academy Award for best-animated film.

    From 2002-2009 she began a new division Sony Pictures Animation where she served as Senior Executive Vice President. The new animation division for Sony Studios required hiring personnel and building a new animation company to rival DreamWorks, Disney and Pixar in quality. During her tenure she developed and produced the hit comedies Open Season, Surf's Up, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, she also purchased and developed the 2012 hit Hotel Transylvania.

    In 2010 she joined DreamWorks Animation Television as the Co-Executive Producer for "Dragons: Riders of Berk" , a new series based on the hit movie "How to Train Your Dragon" which is airing on Cartoon Network. She has produced 21 aired episodes.

    Sandra Rabins and her producing partner Penney Finkelman Cox, have an independent production entity, Patchwork Productions, which executive produced the 2007 feature film Snakes on a Plane. Currently Patchwork Productions is developing several projects with studios in Japan and China, with the first movie releasing in 2016.

    Rabins is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the PGA, AIS and ASIFA. She and her family reside in Los Angeles, California.

    For any matters pertaining to Escena, Sandy can be reached at

    sandra-r@escuelaescena.com

SANDRA RABINS
Advisor

  • Scot Evans, CEO of Monkeys with Pistols and Splendor Omnia, brings a wealth of experience spanning over three decades in film, television, and digital media. Scot has made significant contributions to the industry, working on numerous productions for renowned studios such as Warner Brothers, Universal, Fox, Disney, Paramount, NBC, ABC, CBS, HBO, Amazon, and Netflix, among others.

    Throughout his career, Scot has directed several major post- production studios, including Virgin Television, MPC, and Technicolor, showcasing his exceptional leadership and creative vision. In addition to his success in directing media companies, Scot has also excelled as a cinematographer, showcasing his versatility and deep understanding of visual storytelling.

    Scot's outstanding contributions to the industry extend beyond the post-production realm. His role as an associate producer for an Academy Award-nominated film, recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, further solidifies his expertise and dedication to cinematic excellence.

SCOT EVANS
Advisor

  • Dr. Rebekah Louisa Smith, The Film Festival Doctor, is a change agent. Her focus on film festivals and mental health is the first of its kind within the film industry. She creates new ways to approach festival strategies and redefine how to look after one’s mental health within the intense & rewarding world of the film festival circuit.

    Rebekah and her hard-working team are committed to nurturing filmmakers in order to help them secure film festival screenings, win awards, and cultivate a positive recognition within the film industry. Currently, her company has won more than 2,500 awards for their clients and three Oscar success stories. She has secured hundreds of festival screenings around the world for her clients and has supported over 850 international filmmakers, enlightening and inspiring their journey towards achieving their goals and following their filmmaking dreams. 

DR REBEKAH LOUISA SMITH
Advisor

Executive Producers

  • Emmy-winning Jorge R. Gutierrez is a Mexican animator, painter, writer and director. A CalArts Experimental Animation BFA & MFA graduate, Gutierrez has completed various films, cartoons, and paintings exploring his love affair with Mexican pop and folk culture. Gutierrez was Director & Co-Writer of the Guillermo del Toro produced animated feature The Book of Life (2014), which earned him a 2014 Golden Globe Award nomination. 

    Along with his wife and muse, Sandra Equihua, they created the multiple Emmy Award-winning animated series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (2007) for Nickelodeon. 

    Gutierrez most recently created, wrote, and directed the event series Maya and the Three (2021) for Netflix which won four Emmys. Gutierrez is currently writing/directing an animated feature named I, Chihuahua with Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias. He most recently designed and directed the intro for the latest The Simpsons Treehouse of Terror episode.

JORGE R GUTIERREZ
Executive Producer

  • Andrés Buzo Franco is the CEO and founder of ESCENA Animation School. A graduate of the Academy of Art University in 3D Animation, he began his career as a 3D texture artist in the video game industry and later founded Beme Studio Producciones, working on advertising campaigns for brands such as Peñafiel, Sabritas, and Pepsi.

    He also contributed to the feature film by Gloria Estefan and Romero Brito, Con los pies en el cielo, handling art direction and post-production. Later, he co-founded ESCENA, fostering the development of new animation talent in Mexico. He currently serves as executive producer on several animated short projects and is directing his own short film, Sorrow.

ANDRES BUZO
Executive Producer

  • Karla Vázquez de la Fuente is a creative entrepreneur and brand strategist with a strong background in media, design, and education. She studied New Media and Branding at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where she developed a multidisciplinary vision that bridges creativity, storytelling, and business strategy.

    After completing her studies, Karla founded her own advertising agency, leading projects that combined artistic innovation with strategic communication for various brands. Her passion for visual storytelling and creative development later led her to co-found Escena, one of Mexico’s most recognized schools in animation and digital arts.

    Over the past 15 years, Karla has spearheaded Escena’s commercial growth, taking the school from 100 to over 1,100 students, establishing key partnerships, and positioning it as a benchmark in Latin America’s creative industry. Her leadership blends vision, strategy, and a deep understanding of how art and business intersect to generate impact.

KARLA VAZQUEZ
Associate Producer

ANDRÉS PALMA
Director, Producer, CO-Writer, Editor, Production Designer & CG Supervisor

Originally trained as a classical artist, Andrés has been working in the Mexican film, animation and visual effects industries for nearly two decades, from independent film productions down to advertising work for large established agencies.

Shimmer is his most personal project to date, conceived to work through his own issues around the idea of fatherhood and the choices that come with it. He worked in many roles as the project took shape: writer, director, producer, editor, production designer, CG supervisor, character modeler, texturer and lighting artist.

Cast & Crew

  • Mexican director and screenwriter whose works have been showcased at prestigious international festivals. He has received support from programs such as the Ford, Bertha Foundation, Luminate Group and the Berlinale Talent Campus, among others. His debut film “Los truenos de San Juan” (2017) won Best Documentary at the San Diego Latino Film Festival, among many other awards.

    With more than a dozen short films and four feature-length films directed and produced, he led the documentary department at La Corriente del Golfo for four years. In television, he co-directed the special “Discriminar en español” from “Pan y Circo” (2022) for Amazon Prime and “Reasonable Doubt: A Story of Two Kidnappings” (2021), a Netflix original that uncovered abuses of power in the Mexican penal system and led to the release of three men wrongfully imprisoned. His most recent documentary “Estado de silencio” (2024), produced by Diego Luna, was nominated for an Ariel and has screened at more than twenty international festivals, winning multiple awards, including Best Film at SANFIC, Chile and Best Documentary at the Red Sea IFF in Saudi Arabia.

SANTIAGO MAZA STERN
Co Writer

  • Award winning actor based in Mexico City, Alfonso has participated in multiple productions over the last two decades.

    As a theater actor he has starred among many others in Hamlet, Historias de Fantasmas, Pillowman, El Plan,The Lion King and Arte, for which he recently won a Best Supporting Actor by the Theater Critics and Journalists Association.

    He has also starred in the films Sobriedad Me Estás Matando, El Club Perfecto, Diente por Diente, Cuando Los Hijos Regresan, No abras la puerta, Reviviendo la Navidad as well as the hit TV shows Luis Miguel, Club de Cuervos, Narcos, Soy tu Fan, Backdoor, LOL, and Ojitos de Huevo. He’s also an accomplished improv actor who has represented Mexico in Improv World Cups held in Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Brazil.

    As a voice actor he has lent his voice to animated short film Shimmer, animated series Los Asombrosos and fiction podcast Batman Desenterrado.

ALFONSO BORBOLLA
Voice Actor

  • Graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with a specialization in collective creation. She has appeared in films and television productions such as 1938, Lupe, El baile de los 41, Fondeados, Cuando sea joven, and Te acuerdas de mí, among others.

    Winner of the Metropolitan Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for El hombre de La Mancha (2018) and Casi normales (2019), for which she also received the ACPT Award (2021). She was nominated for the Metropolitan Award three consecutive years for Pequeña voz (2022), Lobas (2023), and Comala, Comala (2024), where she was also recognized as a director.

    Her theater work includes La tía Mariela, Noche de Reyes, Privacidad, Sasha y Spot, Happy, Los miserables, and many more. She has developed new musicals such as Nada extraordinario, Para espantar elefantes, and Comala, Comala.

    She teaches at the acting conservatory and works as an intimacy choreographer for theater and film.

MARIA PENELLA
Voice Actor

  • Desert-born author and screenwriter from northern Mexico. 

    His work explores horror, dirty realism, and camp with a focus on human fragility and survival. With over a decade of experience, he writes for animation and video games. 

    He teaches narrative and screenwriting at Escena – Escuela de Animación y Artes Creativas, where he also serves as Script Supervisor at Escena Animation Studio, bridging storytelling and visual development across media.

GOYO VAZQUEZ
Script Doctor

  • Director, illustrator, and concept artist, with a degree in Graphic Design. As a concept artist, he has worked on studios such as Huevocartoon, and as Art Director he has workedfor Canal Once for the animated project Las piezas del Rompecabezas. In video games, he has participated in projects such as Hey, That's My Cheese, Homies, and Kabusan.

    His first directorial role was the short film Orfanato de estrellas.

    He is currently the art director at ESCENA Animation Studio and collaborates on publishing projects in Mexico and abroad for companies such as PAIZO.

BOLI NOLASCO
Art Director

  • Award winning composer/guitar player known for his work with rock bands ‘Santa Sabina’ (Mtv Unplugged, Germany/Ireland/Spain Tour), ‘La Barranca’ (US and France Tours), ‘San Pascualito Rey’ (2 Latin Grammy Awards nominations, US and Colombia Tours) and ‘Cuca’ (Latin Grammy Award nomination-US and Argentina Tours) with whom he has recorded 20 albums and played the National Auditorium, Cervantino International Festival, Vive Latino, Teatro Esperanza Iris and all the main venues and Festivals throughout Mexico.

    He has composed the scores for ‘A separate wind’ (Alejandro Gerber, 2014), ‘Epitaph’ (Rubén Imaz/Yulene Olaizola 2015), the documentaries ‘Hotel de paso’ (Paulina Sánchez, 2015), ‘Drawings against bullets’ (Alicia Calderón, 2019), ‘Disappear completely’ (Luis Javier Henaine, 2023), ‘Dead man’s switch’ (Alejandro Gerber 2024), ‘No nos moverán’ (Pierre Saint Martin, 2024) and ‘Viva el Rey’ stopmotion short from Luis Téllez (2017-Ariel Award winner for Best Animated Short). Is working currently on ‘Aquí hay dragones’ (Iria Gómez, 2026). His score for ‘Tragic Jungle’ (Olaizola, 2020) won the Coral Award at the Cuba Film Festival and is a 3 time nominee for the Best Score Ariel Award.

    As a solo experimental artist he has released multimedia DVD (‘Fractales’), app (‘iNFiNiTO’ alongside Iraida Noriega, Mexico’s top jazz singer), live music for silent cinema (‘Man with the Movie Camera’), binaural (‘Astrolab-iO’ with sound artist Javier Lara). Plus he has guested or collaborated with ‘Zoé’, ‘Panteón Rococó’, ‘Cecilia Toussaint’, ‘Regina Orozco’, ‘Todd Clouser’ and ‘Klezmerson’ amongst others.

ALEX OTAOLA
Composer

  • Olivia López Arambarri is the Head of Production at Escena Animation Studios and a graduate of Escena University’s Animation program. She produced the short film ARK, selected at festivals such as FICM, Anima Latina, Ventana Sur, Chilemonos, among others. 

    She joined Shimmer as Production Manager during its production and post-production stages, and is currently producing several animated short films, including Camino a Senguio, Sorrow, Árido Neón and Linda.

    Alongside her studio work, Olivia supervises and mentors student graduation films at Escena University, nurturing new voices in animation. Her passion for the human side of the animation pipeline continues to guide her path in production.


OLIVIA ARAMBARRI
Production Manager

  • José Luis “Joselo” Dorantes is a Production Manager and currently the Director of Operations and Pipeline at EAS. A graduate of Escena Escuela de Animación with a Bachelor’s Degree in 3D Modeling and Animation, he began his career as a production assistant. He advanced within the studio to lead workflow coordination and manage the creative team. He has worked in production supervision for the short films Burnout, Miedo, and Miseros Morsu.

    His passion for problem-solving and process optimization has led him to specialize in organizing and guiding artists and producers, continuously improving pipelines to make production more efficient and collaborative.

JOSELO DORANTES
Production Manager

  • He began his career in the 1990s, venturing into the world of comics.

    Beginning in 2000, he ventured into advertising, developing as an illustrator and character designer.

    Later, he had the opportunity to work as a storyboard artist on films, short films, and series, such as "Z-Baw", "El Chavo Animado", "El Chapulín Colorado", "La Leyenda de la Llorona", and "La Leyenda de las Momias de Guanajuato", among others.

    He currently works as a professor at ESCENA animation school, teaching classes, courses, and workshops on character creation, storyboarding, and 2D animation, while also participating in Escena animation Studio, developing animation projects.

VIC HERNANDEZ
Lead Story Artist

  • Greg Jaimes (México City, 1987) is a digital painter focus mainly in Digital Matte Painting. Currently he is Digital Matte Painter Supervisor in Mikros Animation (Montreal, Quebec) in the upcoming feature animation "Paw Patrol: the Dino Movie". He was part of Escena Animation School staff, as Education Program Coordinator and then Director of Illustration and Concept Art career since 2017 to 2022, where he joined EAS as a Concept Designer and Matte Painter. He has work in several film and and live action Series productions Matte Painter since 2011. On his spare time he likes to draw along his family and code tools for improve the Mattepainting workflows.

GREG JAIMES
Environment Designer

  • Mexican concept artist with over ten years of experience in the animation industry, during which he has contributed with storyboard, animation, layout, and concept art for several short films and animated movies.

    Through his style and vision, he has brought different projects to life using a powerful narrative and visual impact in his art and concepts, that helps each project have its own unique identity.

    He's currently part of the EAS team, where he has been able to collaborate on several short films that has helped him continue sharpen his art work and narrative skills.

BERNARDO SEGURA
Lead Story Artist

  • Javier Avendaño is a Mexican concept artist with a background in Graphic Design from Universidad Iberoamericana and an MFA in Visual Development from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

    With over ten years of professional experience, he has contributed to editorial projects, mobile games, and animated productions. His career highlights include serving as Art Director at Boon Studio—where he developed artwork for animation and advertising—teaching at Escena, Escuela de Animación y Arte Digital, and his current role as a concept artist at Liquid Development Mx.

    While teaching at Escena, he collaborated on projects such as El crujir de las hojas, Alas de cartón, Fulgores, and Orfanato de estrellas. Under the direction of Mauricio Flores and Andrés Palma, he discovered a strong interest in the use of light and color—an experience that became a cornerstone of his specialization as a color script artist, shaping several key aspects of his artistic career.

JAVIER AVENDAÑO
Lighting Designer

  • Emilio Ramírez Castro is a concept artist with a bachelor's degree at ESCENA Escuela de Animación y Arte Digital. He wrote and directed a student short film named "Shell Shock" that ran at festivals like "Pixelatl" , "Shorts Mexico" , "Festival de Cine de Morelia" to mention a few, got a special mention at "Rookies Awards" and won "CutOut Fest". 

    He's worked as a lead concept artist in productions such as: "Alas de Cartón", "Orfanato de Estrellas", y "Fulgores" in which mainly he's been tasked with creating the characters that protagonize this stories and set the look for the world they live in. Nowadays he works at ESCENA as a teacher and as a Lead Concept Artist at "ESCENA Animation Studio".

EMILIO RAMIREZ
Character Designer

  • Mexican cartoonist, illustrator, and frustrated gamer with 15 years of experience, 10 of which have been spent living the dream. He has worked for companies such as Anima Studios, Huevocartoon, Upstarsproductions, Warehouse9 Productions, Escena Animation Studio, Mighty Animation, and Cartoon Network. 

    Dedicated to telling stories through various media: comics, concept art, and specializing in animation backgrounds and visual development, Francisco continues to work and learn on each project he works on to improve his artistic and personal skills, always keeping in mind the beauty of telling stories through the aforementioned media. 

    The Fulgores project was very important to him as he was able to connect with high-caliber artists and great people, which was evident in the final result. He always emphasized the excellent leadership work of Andres Palma, Jesus (Boli) Nolazco, and Gregorio Jaimes.

FRANCISCO RESENDIZ
Creature Designer

  • He is a 3D artist and digital sculptor deeply influenced by science fiction and an enduring fascination with horror cinema. Over the past several years, he has collaborated with multiple studios, contributing to the development of visual effects, video games, mobile applications, prototypes, and collectible figures. Currently, he serves as a faculty member at ESCENA

    School of Animation, where he teaches advanced courses designed to guide and inspire the next generation of 3D artists.

RAUL SANCHEZ
Asset Supervisor

  • 3D artist specializing in modeling, texturing, and look development for film and animation.

    Throughout his career, he has contributed to award-winning short films, combining strong artistic vision with a solid technical foundation in the creation of digital characters, props, and environments.

    He currently works as a Texture and Lookdev Artist, leading the visual development of materials and surfaces to ensure consistency between artistic direction and technical standards.

    He also teaches, sharing his professional experience with the next generation of digital artists.

    His work stands out for balancing art and technology, always seeking new ways to bring personality and realism to every project.

RICARDO CRUZ
Texturing Supervisor

  • Uli is a digital sculptor and 3D generalist with over 15 years of experience in VFX for film, series, and advertising. He blends technical skill and artistry in his personal projects, exploring the creation of creatures and imaginary worlds.

    He is currently part of Escena University, where he helps train and inspire new generations of digital artists.

ULISES GARCIA
Environment Modeling Supervisor

  • Juan Brito is a 3D Character Rigging Artist with over 12 years of experience in the animation and VFX industry. Throughout his career, he’s served as both a Rigging Supervisor and Instructor, mentoring aspiring riggers with a strong focus on performance, efficiency, and expressive motion.

    His work blends artistic sensibility with deep technical expertise. He’s contributed to animated productions across film, video games, television, and videomapping—delivering production-ready rigs that strike the right balance between complexity and control.

    Specialized in developing high-performance rigs for feature-quality characters, he’s passionate about the evolving relationship between technology and storytelling across film, TV, and interactive media.

JUAN BRITO
Rigging Supervisor

  • Claris Quintero Castro is a 3D Layout and Previs Artist with a strong focus on cinematic storytelling and visual composition. She served as Lead 3D Layout Artist on the animated short film “Shimmer”, where she helped the team with the visual language, camera direction, and spatial continuity of the project, ensuring a cohesive cinematic experience from previs to final layout.

    Claris has also contributed to different productions such as “Bem y Yo” as a Previs Artist, “Ark” as a Compositing Artist, and “La Bestia” as part of the Camera Tracking team.

    With a balance between artistic sensibility and technical precision, she specializes in bridging storytelling intent with visual execution. Proficient in Maya, Nuke, and Unreal Engine, Claris is passionate about designing camera sequences that evoke emotion and narrative depth.

CLARIS QUINTERO
Lead Layout Artist

  • Ricardo Carrera is a character animator with over fifteen years of experience. He has worked as an animator, supervisor, and animation director on projects such as Ana and Bruno, Isla Calaca, Friendzspace, and Fulgores, collaborating with studios including Ool Digital, Ánima, Mighty, and Hype.

    He is currently the Director of the Digital Animation Bachelor’s Program and Animation Supervisor at EAS, within Escena.  

RICARDO CARRERA
Animation Supervisor

  • Cristian Cárdenas has been working as a digital artist for over two decades, developing his skills in visual, sound, and interactive disciplines with a primary interest in narrative, cinematography, experimentation, and interdisciplinarity.  

    As an artist, he has worked and presented his work at major festivals, studios, and exhibitions in Mexico and around the world in cities such as Tokyo, Yokohama, Chicago, New Delhi, Mumbai, Barcelona, Croatia, Paris, and Australia. Professionally, he has promoted and participated in important pioneering projects in his country in the fields of animation, electronic music, and digital media.

    As a character animator specialized in Layout and Previz, has worked as Layout artist and supervisor on feature films such as “Ana y Bruno” and “Escuela de Miedo” at Ánima Estudios, the animated series “Hanni and The Wild Woods” at Boxel Studio, and most recently on the short film “Shimmer” at Escena Animation Studio.

    Cristian is currently a professor of “Layout, Previz, and Virtual Cinematography” at Escena and works as Layout supervisor while directing the short film “Semilla” at Escena Animation Studio as part of “Crónicas de la Ceiba,” an IP based on Mesoamerican transmedia content.

CRISTIAN CARDENAS
Camera Dpt. Supervisor

  • Bibi Fontana is a 3D animator who loves bringing characters to life with personality and heart. She has worked on films, series, and video games, always exploring new ways to tell stories through movement. When she’s not animating or teaching, you’ll probably find her doing yoga, playing softball, biking around, or planning her next trip, anything that keeps her moving and inspired.  

BIBI FONTANA
Lead Animator

  • Juan Fernando Fabián Zapata is a character animator dedicated to exploring the expressive power of movement and performance. For fourteen years, he has brought characters to life in projects ranging from Mexican feature films like Ana y Bruno to global productions such as Marvel’s What If…? and Marvel Zombies, as well as series for Nickelodeon and Netflix. He has also found in teaching, particularly through his work at ESCENA, a way to build community, and he believes that collective creation is essential to artistic practice, especially when it comes to telling stories.

JUAN ZAPATA
Lead Animator

  • 3D Character Animator with over 10 years of experience in the animation industry.

    He has contributed to a number of feature films, including Ana y Bruno (Ánima Studios), Día de Muertos (Metacube), Un

    Rescate de Huevitos and Huevitos Congelados (Huevocartoon), and Águila y Jaguar (Kool Toon).

    In addition to film work, he has collaborated on various animated series for major streaming platforms, as well as animated music videos.

    Currently, he is part of the team at Escena Animation Studio, where he is involved in the production of multiple animated short films.

HECTOR MELCHOR
Lead Animator

  • Maykol Choqque is a Senior Animator with over fifteen years of experience in the film and animation industry.

    Throughout his career, he has contributed to renowned international productions such as Detective Pikachu, Hotel Transylvania, and Paddington in Peru, among others. Specializing in character and quadruped animation, he blends technical expertise with strong performance and storytelling skills to create compelling, believable motion. He currently works as a Senior Animator while also serving as a mentor at OokumaVFX and Animum, guiding the next generation of animation artists.

MAYKOL CHOQQUE
Lead Animator

  • Character Animator with 15 years of experience, the last 10 years working in feature animation and animated series, in depth understanding of the principles of animation, bodymechanics, acting and lypsinc. Always looking for projects that are challenging and full of learning.

CHARLES ORTEGA
Lead Animator

  • David Camiro Vargas is a seasoned Lead Animator from Mexico with over two decades of experience in the animation and visual effects industry. He began his professional journey as a Character Animator at Cluster Animation Studio in 2004 and has since built a versatile career across renowned studios and projects throughout Mexico and internationally.

    His expertise led him to roles such as Lead Animator at Lo Coloco Films and Poliedro VFx, and later as a Supervising Animator at Mali Arts, where he has contributed since 2017. In addition, David has worked as a freelance artist for several top studios including Ollin Studio, MPC, ICON, Psyop, Lomas Post, Fotosintesis, and Organika.

    David holds a degree in 3D Animation from the Toronto Film School and has further refined his artistic skills through specialized training, such as the Life Drawing Program at George Brown College and the Keith Lango Animation Master Class. Passionate about sharing his knowledge, he also served as an animation instructor at ESCENA School in Mexico from 2015 to 2016.

    Skilled in animation, drawing, modeling, and rigging, David continues to push creative boundaries while mentoring the next generation of animators. His collaborative spirit and technical mastery have earned him a trusted reputation in the animation industry.

DAVID CAMIRO
Lead Animator

  • Kal is a senior student of Digital Animation at Escena Animation School. During their time here, they have engaged in various seminaries and contests to further their experience. In addition, they took on a role in Escena Animation Studio as Assembly Supervisor for the short film "Shimmer". Using all the knowledge they've gathered through the years, Kal is now producing a 3D short film of their own, guiding a score of artists from Escena.

KAL MOTOLA
Assembly Supervisor

  • Alan Narvaez is a 3D artist specialized in Character FX and also a Groom artist for characters. Alan combines a strong technical foundation with an artistic eye to create believable simulations that enhance storytelling.

    He contributed as a simulation artist for the short film "Ark", where he was responsible for simulating the hair of the main character.

    Later, he took on the role of Character FX supervisor for the Ariel Award-winning short film Shimmer. He is currently the head of the simulation department at Escena Animation Studio.

ALAN NARVAEZ
CFX Supervisor

  • With roots in production and a passion for creative problem-solving, Natalia expanded her career into Character FX, building a department from the ground up and mastering the simulation of hair and clothing. Her work reflects both the structure of production and the artistry of technical creation.

    Shimmer became a pivotal moment in her career, opening new opportunities that led her to Canada, where she now works as a Groom Supervisor. This experience not only deepened her technical expertise but also strengthened her leadership and storytelling skills, allowing her to guide teams in crafting characters with authenticity and visual depth.

NATALIA GARZA
Production Mgmt & CFX Sup

  • Colombian 3D Animator and instructor based in Mexico City. She holds a degree in Digital Animation and has experience in modeling, digital sculpting, and simulation. Her specialty is CFX, with a particular focus on cloth and fabric simulation. She currently teaches

    Introduction to Maya and Organic Modeling at ESCENA. Passionate about art, animals, and teaching, she strives to inspire her students to develop their creativity and technical mastery in the 3D world.

LAURA B CASTIBLANCO
CFX Artist

  • Braulio Martinez is a 3D artist and lighting specialist based in Mexico City. A graduate of ESCENA Animation School with a BFA in 3D Modeling and Animation, he has been part of ESCENA Animation Studio since 2018, contributing to a variety of animated short films in roles ranging from character modeling and rigging to lighting.

    His recent work includes serving as a Lighting Artist on Shimmer, an award-winning short selected by multiple international festivals, and contributing as a Character Artist and Rigger on Alas de Cartón (Cardboard Wings), featured in the 2019 Chicago International Children's Film Festival. He also wrote and directed ARK, a dystopian short film that screened at several festivals.

    Braulio is passionate about storytelling through lighting, using atmosphere and visual tone to enhance emotion and bring animated worlds to life.

BRAULIO MARTINEZ
Lead Lighting Artist

  • Oliver Vera is a lighting artist and 3D modeler with a focus on visual storytelling and technical precision. He worked as a lighting artist on the short film Shimmer, where he designed key lighting, temperature, and contrast to build atmospheres that supported the dramatic intent of each shot while preserving chromatic coherence and scene volume. His work is distinguished by a refined sense for directing the viewer’s gaze and by organized workflows that balance visual quality with production efficiency.

    Before Shimmer, he collaborated in the advertising sector, developing lighting approaches that elevate both product and storytelling in short-form pieces. He has also taken part in planning stage designs for festivals and theater, integrating concepts of stage lighting, spatial legibility, and changeover timing to create a clear, immersive audience experience. In music, he has created album covers for various artists, bringing composition and lighting sensibility to iconic images with a distinct identity. His goal is to continue contributing to projects that champion powerful, visually striking stories.

OLIVER VERA
Lead Lighting Artist

  • Vania García Escárzaga is an art historian and cultural manager who specialises in the creative industry. She derives the most satisfaction from contributing to people’s personal, social and professional growth through art and education. In her role as Industry Liaison Coordinator at Escena, she has curated, planned and executed tailored festival strategies, leading to over 110 selections and more than 70 awards and nominations, including two Quirino Award nominations, an honourable mention and third place at the Academy Award-qualifying festival Chilemonos.

    She has also designed and coordinated a wide range of academic events, including masterclasses, workshops, studio presentations with renowned professionals and studios, such as Fortiche, Cartoon Saloon, Sandra Rabins, Nora Twomey and Mindy Johnson. Her work aims to foster a sense of community and provide a valuable learning experience for young artists.

VANIA GARCIA
Exhibition Coordinator

  • Fernanda Paxtian is a CFX artist that worked in Shimmer the Short Film. Her favorite part of the process is the hair and cloth construction! She was in charge of Lucia’s hair construction and helped with simulation for Lucia and the rest of the characters, along with some cloth and props simulation.

FERNANDA PAXTIAN
CFX Artist

  • Daniela Trejo is a graduate of ESCENA, where she developed a strong foundation in animation, visual effects, and simulation techniques. During the production of Fulgores, she served as Lead for Crowds and Simulations, overseeing the technical and artistic development of large-scale scenes that required dynamic realism and complex population systems.

    She currently serves as Director of Communications at LagoAlgo, a contemporary art and cultural space located in Mexico City. LagoAlgo brings together art, architecture, and gastronomy in a multidisciplinary dialogue that redefines the relationship between culture and the natural environment.

    In her role, Daniela leads communication strategy and media relations, managing institutional identity, public narrative, and press coordination to ensure that LagoAlgo’s values—artistic excellence, sustainability, and cultural exchange—are reflected consistently across all exhibitions, residencies, and public programs.

    Her ability to bridge artistic sensibility with strategic communication has positioned her as a key voice in shaping how contemporary culture is experienced and communicated within one of Mexico City’s most dynamic creative institutions.

DANIELA TREJO
Lead Crowds Sims TD

  • With over a decade of experience across multiple CGI disciplines—including architectural visualization, VFX for film, and broadcast—Pablo has developed a strong technical and artistic foundation rooted in traditional cinematography principles, applied across real-time and offline rendering pipelines. He has collaborated with national and international studios, including Psyop, contributing to high-end productions for clients such as Google, NBA, EA, and Supercell.

    His recent work includes Fulgores, an award-winning Mexican short film produced entirely in Unreal Engine. Pablo was instrumental in establishing the studio’s production pipeline and served as Lighting Supervisor and Unreal Technical Director, overseeing real-time lighting workflows, level optimization, and shader development.

    Currently, he works at Monks, focusing on virtual production for automotive clients including BMW, MINI, Cadillac, and GM. Simultaneously, he holds the roles of Lead Unreal Artist and Unreal TD at Virtual Animation Studios (Mexico City), where he leads the real-time content pipeline for short film production.

    His skill set includes Unreal Engine, real-time lighting, Blueprint scripting, pipeline design, and cross-discipline team coordination for virtual production environments.

PABLO CARDENAS
Lighting Supervisor

  • Based in Tokyo, Omar Espinosa is a professional CG wizard, crafting precise formulas for pixel rendering, physics simulations and hat tricks for efficient procedural workflows and pipelines to allow squeezing as much frame rate as possible. His experience ranges from imagery compositing for films to real time graphics development working for renowned international companies like Capcom, Polygon Pictures, MPC and animation boutiques in Mexico like Cluster and Poliedro. He is currently building the world of KEMURI along with a cyberpunk team at UNSEEN inc. leading the Technical Art department

OMAR ESPINOSA
CG Wizard

  • Marco Vinicio (Kultnation) is a Mexico-based graphic artist, animator, and educator whose work—rooted in drawing, typography, and animation—brings ideas to life across design and storytelling. Over the past fifteen years, he has created projects for film and television with studios such as Blur Studio, Prologue Films, Sarofsky, HBO, and Chanel.

    His work has been shown at Pictoplasma, the Carrillo Gil Museum of Art, the Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, the Type Directors Club in New York, and OFFF Barcelona and Mexico.

    Marco Vinicio is currently Creative Director at Escuela Escena, Mexico’s leading animation school, where he develops and directs new stories with students, faculty, and Escena Animation Studio

VINNY MORALES
Graphic Designer

  • He was born on September 6, 1991, in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico. He began his musical training at the age of 13 at the Conservatory of the State of Puebla, where he completed a year of solfège and choir, marking the beginning of his journey in sound.

    He studied the Sound Design for Visual Media diploma program (2014–2015) at the internationally renowned Vancouver Film School in British Columbia, Canada. He stood out as a student, receiving an Honors Diploma and excellent feedback on his final project. He specialized in post-production and video games, and has worked on audio design for short films, advertising, and video games in both Mexico and Canada (such as Who Killed Sara?, La Máquina, La Leyenda del Charro Negro, among others).

    He currently as a freelancer for national and international projects.

ALDO CANDIA
Sound Designer

  • Jenna Field is an LA-based Colorist with a background in graphic design. She loves animated storytelling for how it blends her two passions and especially enjoyed bringing the vivid palette and neon creatures of Shimmer to life.

JENNA FIELD
Colourist

  • Tiago is in charge of being cute, crawling around and eating mangoes.

TIAGO
Production Baby

The Students

Shimmer would not exist without the help of scores of students from Escena Animation School. The project was conceived first and foremost as an educational tool, providing teachers with the means to keep honing their skills and providing students with an alternative training path where they could put in practice the knowledge gained in the classroom within a production environment. As such, they were not only part of the journey, but its very reason for being.

Artists

Alan León • Alan Ramírez • Aldo García • Alexander Pérez • Alfredo Diestefano • Alonso Barragán • Alonso Reyna • Álvaro Espejel • Ana Paula Chávez • André Iskander • Andrea Antillón • Andrea Conde • Andrea Fonseca • Andrea Pérez • Andrea Pintor • Angélica Rodríguez • Aranzazú Osorio • Avirán Amiga • Beatriz Álvarez • Bernardo Mondragón • Bimori Arrechea • Carolina Rodríguez • César Schiaffino • Chabeli Rodríguez • Christopher Palma • Damián Muñóz • Daniel Ivaneri • Daniel Zarrabal • Daniela Castro • Dann Alducín • Diana Flores • Diana Guzmán • Dulce Gallego • Eduardo Sánchez • Edmundo Galindo • Ernesto Cerón • Ernesto Mendoza • Estephany Zambrano • Fernanda Arrévalo • Fernando Cante • Fernando Delgado • Fernando Zetina • Gabriel Paredes • Gustavo Peña • Ignacio Madrigal • Isaac Rendón • Israel Juárez • Ixchel Cuautle • Janet Olguin • Jorge Bermejo • José Hernández • Joss de los Santos • Josselyn de los Santos • Juan Ávila • Juan Carlos Lobo • Juanru Cobián • Julia Santos Coy • Karen Galicia • Karla Rupitt • Karyna Salinas • Liz Trujillo • Luigi Sampieri • Luis Gabriel Gutiérrez • Luis Gómez • Luis Guzmán • Luis R. Alarcón • Marco Avilés • Marco Chávez • Marco Muñóz • Marcus Baillet • Margot Cedillo • María Isabel Silva • Maribel Martínez • Mariela Enríquez • Marisol Pérez • Mauricio Márquez • Neftalí Gutiérrez • Nicole Velázquez • Nicolás Lomelín • Omar Espinoza • Omar Franco • Óscar Esquivel • Paola Guzmán • Paulo Valtierra • Quito Simg • Rebeca Gutiérrez • Rodrigo Martínez • Uriel López • Uriel Rentería • Ursula Leñero • Vanessa Treviño • Vladimir Díaz • Yosef Martínez

PAs
Alan León • Edmundo Galindo • Elena Patiño • José Luis Romero • Michelle Castañeda • Natalia Calixto • Nikkos Martínez • Paola Escandón • Ximena Alducín

Contact us.

Andres Palma, head of studio.
andresp@escuelaescena.com
+52 (55) 6234 7540

Concepción Béistegui 515,
Del Valle Centro, Benito Juárez, 03200, CDMX.