MINING IN MEXICO S - ProMéxico

34 Negocios photos courtesy of batallón 52
Animators Take Bicentenary
By Storm And Launch An Industry
Batallón 52 has raised a high standard for the celebrations marking two hundred years of Mexican
Independence and one hundred years since the Revolution. It will animate the festivities surrounding
Mexico’s birth as an independent nation, as well as lay the foundations for a world-class animation and
multimedia industry in Mexico.
BY SANDRA ROBLAGUI
The year marking Mexico’s bicentenary
celebrations of Independence
and the centenary since the Mexican
Revolution will leave behind it
an army-sized group of animation specialists.
The forces of animation march to the tune
of Batallón 52. Their main barracks are in the
city of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco. Their
first engagement is called Suertes, humores y
pequeñas historias de la Independencia y la
Revolución (Feats, moods and short stories of
Independence and the Revolution). It is a collection
of 52 animated short films on the country’s
wars of liberation. The project revealed
that Mexico is prepared to lay down the gauntlet,
using its full arsenal of technology and its
knowledge base. One of this army’s greatest
victories is the Chapala Media Park, in Jalisco
–covering an area of almost 35 acres with offices,
sound and recording studios and sets to
match any film studio in the US. Some believe
Jalisco will soon become a Mexican Jaliwood.
For example, the entire production of
Matrix, as well as the entire lobby of Titanic,
could be filmed on Chapala’s sets. That is just
for starters because the installations will be
equipped to handle all the technical post-production
work of any independent or commercial
film, “entirely staffed by people trained in
Jalisco state itself,” says Carlos Gutiérrez Medrano,
producer of Batallón 52 and founder,
in 2002, of Metacube, which focuses in special
effects, animation and 3D.
Gutiérrez Medrano confirms that various
US-based studios have already expressed an
interest in renting out space in the park, which
will be inaugurated in the first quarter of 2010.
A second section is planned once the first is
fully occupied.
Carlos Gutiérrez has recently become a
key figure in persuading members of the National
Chamber of the Electronics, Telecommunications
and IT Industry (Canieti,) of the
importance of the film industry for Mexico’s
economic growth.
In 2007, the young entrepreneur became
Canieti’s Western Division (Canieti Occidente)
first Vice-President of Audiovisual Media and
through Metacube he is now working with various
unions to train up specialist technicians in
constructing and moving sets in the Chapala
Media Park. He also played a major part in
ensuring that the state government of Jalisco
bought ten hectares of land for use as backlots
for movie productions.
As Vice-President of Canieti’s Western Division,
Gutiérrez submitted a proposal to Víctor
Ugalde, then Secretary General of the Film
Investment and Incentives Fund (Fidecine), a
State film fund managed by the Mexican Institute
of Cinematography (Imcine), for the production
of ten feature-length animated films
with a view to Mexico’s national celebrations
in 2010. “The final agreement was better than
good. We settled on 52 shorts, each lasting a
minute and a half. One half on the Bicentenary
01 / 02 / 03 HIDALGO’S
EXCOMMUNICATION DECREE,
directed by Rigoberto Mora
04 the first air to sea attack,
directed by René Castillo.
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