Sergio Pablos receives the Second Chomón Prize 2021

Supported by numerous colleagues from the animation sector, the creator, screenwriter and director Sergio Pablos collected this Wednesday the Second Chomón Prize 2021, an award that the Film Academy grants to companies or people whose technical contributions contribute to the development of the film industry.

"It has been very unexpected because I come from the artistic side. I am a draftsman and the last thing I imagine is that they are going to give me an award for technique," said the honoree, who dedicated this distinction to the team of Klaus, along with which he overcame the limitations that traditional 2D animation had until now, achieving, through a layer-based lighting system, giving a three-dimensional sensation to the drawn characters, something that until now could only be achieved in films made in 3D.

“I have been the worst version of Steve Jobs, because I told them that the path of animation was this, but it has been up to others to execute it and it is incredible to see what they are capable of doing and their attitude to innovate,” he highlighted about this technical and visual renewal of traditional animation.

The vice president of the Film Academy, Rafael Portela, was in charge of presenting the Second Chomón Prize to the founder of the animation studio SPA, where did it come from Klaus, a film nominated for an Oscar and a Goya Award and which won seven Annie Awards. The man from Madrid trained in the United States and worked for several years at Disney, participating in well-known productions such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules o Tarzan. Then they would arrive Treasure Planet, Despicable Me, Rio y football, among other international films in which he participated.

He spoke about his professional beginnings Julio Diez, a member of the Academy's Board of Directors specializing in animation, who met him when he was still studying at the Cal Arts school in the USA and who, many years later, continues to admire and celebrate Pablos' work, which "represents a before and after in the visual aspect of traditional animation."

Fascination and determination

During the ceremony, the animation producer Manuel Cristobal He recalled an anecdote from Pablos' childhood, when at the age of five, he was amazed at The Jungle Book at a summer movie theater and, despite the fact that a storm broke out, no one could move him from there. An episode that speaks of the personality of the director of Klaus, “on the one hand his fascination with animation and on the other his determination to carry out his projects,” he noted.

Cristóbal reclaimed Pablos as “one of the great names in world animation” and pointed out his efforts to create animation in our country, a task he has achieved with The SPA Studios, from where he seeks to create an industry and develop talent. "He has been able, against all odds and with less support than he would have deserved, to make animated films in Spain. He rejected offers to direct because he wanted to do it here," said Cristóbal.

Innovation

“This award is an incentive to move forward,” said Sergio Pablos, who announced that this innovation is just the beginning of everything to come. "We have discovered what the hallmark of the house is. What is going to define The SPA Studios is not a narrative style, but rather that each project goes further and has that innovative element," confirmed the creator, who also received congratulations, via video, from the actress Belen Cuesta (who voiced the character of Alva in Klaus), producer Mikel Lejarza, the editor Ximo Romero, the producer and director Rodrigo Blaas, the academic director of U-tad, José Antonio Rodríguez Díaz; the character designer Borja Montoro, and the animator Manolo Galiana.

The producer and founding partner of The SPA Studios, Marisa Roman, accompanied Pablos at this evening, which was attended by numerous names from the Spanish animation sector, among others, the composer of the Klaus soundtrack, Alfonso G. Aguilar; the president of Diboos and producer Nico Matji; the directors Abraham Lopez Guerrero y Manuel Sirgo and the representatives of the MIA Board of Directors. Women in the animation industry, Tania Palma y Marta del Valle.

In previous editions, this trophy for technical contributions has gone to the brothers Alfredo and Andrés Vallés, Juan Mariné, Emilio Ruíz del Río, the Valero family, Luis Castro, Julián Martín, Josep A. Esteve Torres, Santiago Gordo, Ricardo Navarrete, the Madrid company Next Limit Technologies, the veteran hairdresser Antoñita, Ruíz's widow, the Val del Omar Archive, the post-production company SGO, Juan José Mendy Igoa, José María Queraltó, Solid Angle, developer of Arnold, photorealistic image synthesis technology, and Alfredo Díaz, 'Fredy'.

Segundo de Chomón (Teruel, 1871–Paris, 1929) was one of the great pioneers of fantasy and animated cinema. His numerous tricks and optical illusions appeared in European blockbusters and he explored the possibilities of stop motion. He directed short films and worked for what was the most important production company in the world at the beginning of the century: La Phaté Fréres. The genius from Teruel was for a long time in the shadow of Méliès, under whose orders he colored the films by hand, frame by frame.