The 1993 VHS tape “The Nightmare Before Christmas” introduced brothers Roy and Arturo Ambriz to the tactile whimsy of stop-motion, an animation technique in which physical objects are manipulated and photographed frame by frame to achieve the illusion of life.
Realizing that the characters on the screen were real-life figures blew the minds of Mexican filmmakers and set them on a difficult path to creating their own worlds.
“If there’s one thing we’ve loved all our lives, it’s toys: collecting them, changing them, playing with them, making dioramas out of them,” said Roy, 36, under his dark shades during a recent interview at Netflix Animation Studios in Burbank.
“And for us, the best moments in life are when we’re doing something artistic, whether that’s drawing, painting or sculpting. And animation encompasses all of that.”
The culmination of years of tireless work and financial pressure for the Ambriz brothers is the epic tale of “I Am Frankelda,” Mexico’s first stand-up feature, now streaming on Netflix.
“Thankfully, no one put it into our heads that it was impossible to do this,” said Arturo, 38. “That’s why we don’t like to go around saying this is too difficult, because maybe if young people hear that, they might not want to stop-motion. Don’t tell them!”
The musical, “I Am Frankelda” follows Francisca Imelda (voiced by Mireya Mendoza), a young aspiring writer living in 19th century Mexico and struggling to get her stories published. Meanwhile, in the Realm of Spooks, another reality that is home to all the fictional characters Francisca has written, Herneval (Juan Pablo Monterrubio), a prince with wings, must save his parents and his kingdom. The creatures in this world live in fear of humans, so they create nightmares.
Herneval crosses the human world to bring Francisca with him to the Spooks’ place, to write new nightmares that really scare people. It’s hard to scare people. At this time, the distraught Francisca has decided to change her name to Frankelda (a reference to the author of “Frankenstein” Mary Shelley, who inspired the character). Frankelda and Herneval sing about the relationship between fiction and reality. One cannot exist without the other.
Frankelda premiered as part of the 2021 series “Frankelda’s Book of Spooks,” which was commissioned by HBO Max. In the show, the heroine shares painful stories with Herneval, who doesn’t look like a prince but a sensitive book. The movie “I Am Frankelda” is a prequel that describes the relationship between these characters.
Last month, “I Am Frankelda” was screened at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, where Guillermo del Toro moderated a Q&A after the screening. A longtime mentor to the Ambriz brothers, Del Toro first supported them by donating to a Kickstarter campaign to fund their 2016 cubist-inspired short film, “Revoltoso,” about a one-eyed pig who lived during the Mexican Revolution.
“At the time, it was incredibly reassuring to see that if Guillermo liked what we were doing, it made sense to keep doing it,” said Roy.
Two years apart, Roy and Arturo both studied filmmaking at Centro, a university in Mexico City. However, directing together was not always the plan.
“I said, ‘We have to direct together,’ because the situation allowed me, as I’m older, to take the role of director while Roy worked as a production designer. But at some point, I realized that leadership is wrong, and that if we want something sustainable for the rest of our lives, it should be a 50/50 split between us. Said Arturo, playing his younger brother.
“It’s like 60/40, I’m 60% stronger,” added Roy with a laugh.
In 2011, not long after graduating, Arturo found himself full of anxiety. During his education, he was interested in art but did not think much about how to make a living from his passion and his brother. That’s when they decided to create their own studio, Cinema Fantasma, so they could control the projects they took on. Their products for hire include the Adult Swim program “Women Wearing Shoulder Pads,” which was produced entirely at their company in Mexico City.
“It was very difficult because we are filmmakers by profession, but we are entrepreneurs by necessity,” said Arturo. “Developing this side of things has been the hardest part, but both are important.”
To wrap up the “Frankelda” series, HBO Max commissioned a 30-minute special. Instead of accepting the offer, Roy suggested that they use the proposed budget allocated to finance part of a full-length feature film. HBO Max agreed with the caveat that the brothers would have to come up with the remaining funds needed on their own.
To finance “I’m Frankelda,” Roy and Arturo took out two mortgages. They lost one of their own to pay their bills, so it helps that their cartoon dream is a family affair. Their parents are the main producers in “Frankelda”; Roy’s wife, Ana Coronilla, worked as a production designer; and Arturo’s partner, Irene Melis, as director of photography.
That “I Am Frankelda” is a musical is largely due to Roy’s love of musical theater.
“At first, Arturo wasn’t sure, but using 60% of my energy, I convinced him that it should be music,” said Roy. However, it was Arturo who wrote the lyrics for the musical numbers. Each song begins as a poem that composer Kevin Smithers turned into songs.
A delightful stand-up comedy period piece, “I Am Frankelda” isn’t an easy sell, and that’s what makes its presence so surprising. The Ambriz brothers’ masterful pursuit of the unpopular and impossible brought them together with Del Toro.
Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, pictured, chats with “I Am Frankelda” directors Roy and Arturo Ambriz on May 30 during a screening of the film at the TCL Chinese Theater as part of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival.
(Jill Connelly / For De Los)
“He is our most important mentor and the person we admire the most in the world, and we share many interests,” Arturo explains. “That’s why when we saw ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ it was like a glass slip the size of Cinderella. That’s exactly what we loved: monsters, war, the cruelty of the human spirit, fairy tales and period pieces.”
“Did you just call yourself Cinderella?” Roy met my younger brother’s usual mischievous grin as he tried to ruffle the feathers.
“Yes!” Arturo said quietly but without hesitation.
Every time they hear Del Toro talk about his interests, the Ambriz brothers find a new source of references and “cultural protein,” from writers to artists.
“Guillermo is someone who actively fights for the work of others, which I believe is the right way for an artist to be,” said Arturo.
When they finished “I Am Frankelda,” the brothers sent it to Del Toro, eager to hear his thoughts. While he was watching, Del Toro called them.
“We talked to him for hours, and he told us everything he saw, obviously with great wisdom, sharing the good and the bad,” Roy recalled. But the most important thing is that he kept telling us to do something unprecedented, he insisted that we will finish it even though we ended up with a lot of debt.
The version of “I Am Frankelda” that premiered at film festivals in 2025 is not the same as the one that will be available on Netflix. Based on Del Toro’s thorough feedback, the filmmakers re-cut the film and even animated new scenes. They playfully refer to this new cut that will be seen by audiences around the world as “The Grandfather Cut,” a tribute to Del Toro’s influence.
“I Am Frankelda” was optioned for distribution by Netflix and was produced by Del Toro, the brothers said. It was a veteran director who pitched the film to a broadcasting company.
“I Am Frankelda” premiered in Mexico last October to overwhelming reception, partly due to the fun the cast has accumulated through the series of episodes.
“We get fan art and fan fiction every day. People send us pictures of cast or ‘Frankelda’-themed quinceañeras. We’ve even bought bootleg merchandise from markets in Mexico and Temu or AliExpress too,” Roy said.
“We bought ‘Frankelda’ socks over there which are of poor quality, but they are very good for their poor quality,” he added.
“Yes, there are haters, too, but a large part of the audience really identified with Frankelda as a persistent person, as someone who refused to let her tormentors hold her. It was really good to watch that the fandom is growing,” said Arturo.
Another of their condemnations when dealing with Del Toro is their lack of interest in artificial intelligence.
“AI is the opposite of stop-motion. We don’t care about it, because we stop to enjoy artistic processes,” Roy said. “We created a studio for painting, drawing, recording and writing. Whatever happens with AI is of no concern to us.”
Their second feature, “The Ballad of the Phoenix,” a medieval tale, is already in the works.
