I Am Frankelda: Mexico’s First Stop-Motion Breaks Through

Netflix’s newest animated feature, I Am Frankelda, is Mexico’s first entirely stop-motion feature film—built over three and a half years by brothers Arturo and Roy Ambriz. Behind its monsters, spirits, and hand-painted musical sequence sits a hard-won producti

On the surface, I Am Frankelda feels like a dare—Mexico’s first entirely stop-motion animated feature film, released on Netflix now, packed with monsters, spirits, and ghouls.

But the brothers behind it, Arturo and Roy Ambriz, describe a different kind of battle behind the scenes: one waged in spreadsheets, studio calendars, and funding deadlines—so fierce they say they had to mortgage their family house to make the project real.

Francisca Imelda—the aspiring horror author at the story’s center—creates an entire world of fantastic creatures called the Topus Terrenus. a realm that comes alive in a parallel dimension. When one of her characters. Prince Herneval. travels to the human world to help save the dimension from ruin. Francisca rechristens herself Frankelda and sets off on a journey of self-discovery.

The Ambriz brothers frame that character arc as a creative lifeline: they made the film to move beyond the stories people told them they couldn’t tell.

Arturo and Roy Ambriz aren’t new to the craft. They founded the stop-motion animation studio Cinema Fantasma. and they’ve worked on TV projects like the Adult Swim series “Women Wearing Shoulder Pads.” I Am Frankelda is also connected to their Cartoon Network Latin America series “Frankelda’s Book of Spooks. ” which is an anthology series featuring the title character as a host. The new movie is described as a spinoff. part prequel to that series. and—crucially—the brothers say viewers don’t need to watch the show first. “You don’t have to watch the series before watching the film; they are complementary. but they are not sequential. ” Arturo said.

For the Ambriz team, the key was building a doorway for “a new audience to discover this world,” to understand where Francisca comes from and what drives her—what Roy calls the most important part of the film: “her experiences that make her thrive as a creative force.”

Financing is where the story turns sharply from dream to risk.

Roy says the film was independently made and that it was “really difficult.” He explains that Warner Brothers in Latin America invested almost 30 percent of the film. and that the rest had to be found. To do that, the brothers say they took loans and mortgaged their family house. “So it was really, really, really difficult and stressful,” Roy said.

They also say they knew they wouldn’t get a first chance handed to them. “Nobody was going to give us our first chance,” he said, so they chose to take the risk anyway—because finishing the film had been the dream since they were filmmaking students.

If the financing story is the pressure cooker, the production schedule is the proof of how hard stop-motion can be.

Arturo says the entire process took around three years and a half. and that they maintained roughly 20 animation units in the studio at the same time. In practice, that meant constant reshuffling as problems hit. “Oh. but we need this prop that is being animated here. and this animator is sick. so she won’t be coming today. ” Arturo said. “So we had to rearrange the calendar like five times each day.”.

He calls it chaotic in administration—yet “really fun,” because the characters are monsters and puppets, and the world is colorful and handcrafted.

That visual identity is tied to art-school influences and a deliberate obsession with making the world feel ancient. Roy says the team studied Gustave Doré’s engravings for inspiration, along with paintings by Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington. He also points to Klimt. including “The Kiss. ” and says they blended those influences with what they love—musical theater. museums. pieces they enjoy. armors. and elements from the Renaissance.

The film’s style reaches a standout moment in the “Prince of the Realm of Terrors” musical number. where it transitions from stop-motion into a watercolor aesthetic. Roy says the transition is “all painting,” made by hand, and that the scene involved about 700 cells made in oil. He adds that the sequence was achieved by a team directed by their art director. Anna Colonica. and he says one artist spent almost four months painting by hand for it. He also calls it “one of the most iconic scenes” in the film.

Some sequences were harder than others—and one change landed extremely late.

Arturo says one of the first sequences, and “probably the first,” shows Francisca as a child with her mother painting. He says that scene was added last minute—after the film premiered in Guadalajara. Arturo adds that it was created with the help of Guillermo del Toro.

They wrapped production. but then del Toro’s mentorship convinced the brothers they needed the extra scene to show the heart of the character. where she comes from. and why she does what she does. Arturo says they had “enormous amount of work” and “almost no time to animate or to post-produce. ” finishing the scene “like one day before exporting the final movie.” He describes it as a miracle that it’s in the final cut and says they believe it’s one of the best scenes in the film.

That mentorship is also credited as part of how the film reached Netflix.

Roy says they connected with Guillermo del Toro years ago, before they studied filmmaking. They sent him a fan email showing the special effects makeup they did, and Roy says del Toro liked what they were doing. From then on, he became a mentor they say has stayed with them through the years.

Roy adds that they have been doing stop-motion animation for 14. almost 15. years. and that del Toro helped specifically after they had the finished film. The mentorship, Roy says, included helping them find distribution in Mexico, then connect them with Netflix for international distribution. He also points to lessons they say del Toro taught about pacing and differences between short films and features. and how emotion has to be the most important element.

Even with all the macabre elements, the Ambriz brothers insist the tone still had to belong to kids.

Arturo describes the balancing act as “a strange balance.” He says the team tries to make what they would have loved to watch. and argues that kids can understand things more profoundly than adults sometimes do. He also says reason can be an obstacle. and that movies can express feelings and hidden truths that adults may miss. He shared a personal detail: his daughter, three years old, loves monsters and has watched the film repeatedly. “She has watched it repeatedly,” Arturo said, adding that his child “understands a lot more than I ever imagined.”.

For the next takeaway, Roy steers the conversation back to the struggle they say fueled the creation in the first place.

He says the most important thing is to inspire audiences—especially young ones—to “speak out. ” do their own work. find their voice. take risks. and pursue an artistic project. Roy describes the resistance they faced when they wanted to do something different: people who told them they weren’t good enough and wouldn’t achieve their dreams. He says that suffering is what drove the creation of Frankelda and the movie itself—“for them.”.

As for what comes next, Arturo says they would “definitely love to make a sequel” depending on the reception. In the meantime, they’re already working on another film: “Ballad of the Phoenix.”

Roy describes it as a medieval adventure about a young princess who trains with her teacher. a phoenix. in alchemy to understand what life is about. He says the film explores the idea that alchemy is more valuable when used to help others rather than finding a way to live forever. Roy also connects it to themes of life and death and describes their blend of influences. saying they sometimes compare it to mixing “Game of Thrones” with “The Muppets.”.

He adds that “Ballad of the Phoenix” still has no distribution, but they’ve received funding to start. The brothers say they’re building puppets and sets and doing animation tests—and that the sets are huge and “really gorgeous.” Roy says they believe the next film will be bigger than I Am Frankelda. and that they’re proud of the results coming out of their first animation test.

For now, though, the focus is on Frankelda’s world—now streaming on Netflix.

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