Guillermo del Toro and Netflix are co-founding a new stop-motion animation studio that will function as both a production facility and educational center. The announcement came during the Venice Film Festival, where the pair were promoting del Toro's latest film.
Dual purpose approach: The facility will give artists opportunities to learn stop-motion techniques while working on actual productions, with students potentially joining projects as apprentices
Next project in development: Del Toro and Netflix are already working on a second stop-motion film based on Kazuo Ishiguro's novel The Buried Giant, following their successful collaboration on Pinocchio
International focus: Del Toro specifically wants to bridge European and Latin American creators, noting that stop-motion artists in Mexico "don't receive much support from the government"
AI resistance angle: Del Toro positioned stop-motion as uniquely "AI-proof" compared to other animation forms, calling it the equivalent of "slow food in the culinary industry"
Educational philosophy: Netflix's Ted Sarandos emphasized that stop-motion encompasses all filmmaking disciplines - costume design, set design, lighting, and camera work - making it particularly valuable for comprehensive film education
What matters: This represents a significant institutional investment in preserving traditional animation crafts. The underlying training model could genuinely help sustain specialized skills that are increasingly rare in the industry.
