''El héroe'' (English: ''The Hero'') is a 1994 Mexican

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

written and directed by

Carlos Carrera Carlos Carrera (born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican film director and screenwriter. He directed '' El crimen del Padre Amaro'' (2002), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2009, he directed ''Backyard'' abou ...

. It won the

Short Film Palme d'Or Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known a ...

at the

1994 Cannes Film Festival The 47th Cannes Film Festival took place from 12 to 23 May 1994. American filmmaker and actor Clint Eastwood served as jury president for the main competition. French actress Jeanne Moreau hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. American fil ...

. It was the first Mexican film to win the Short Film Palme d'Or and it is considered a milestone in Mexican animation.

Plot

In a crowded subway station in Mexico City, a man watches a girl acting strange. He realizes she might be attempting to commit suicide by jumping to the tracks. The man tries to stop her, but she accuses him of being a molester and insults him. After the man is taken away by a police officer, she jumps in front of the oncoming train.

Production

''El héroe'' was

's third professional project after his directorial debut '' La mujer de Benjamín'' and ''La vida conyugal''. The film was produced by the Directorate of Short Film Production of the

Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía The Mexican Film Institute (, IMCINE) is an agency of the Mexican federal government, under the auspices of the Secretariat of Culture, that supports the development of national film production and the film industry. History IMCINE was establis ...

(Mexican Film Institute). The film consists of 2800 hand-drawn images, the images were drawn on

cel A cel, short for '' celluloid'', is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th cent ...

using

pastels A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

. Most of the animation was done by Carrera himself.

Reception

The film was awarded the

at the

. It also won several other awards including the

Ariel Award The Ariel Award () is an award that recognizes the best of Mexican cinema. Given annually, since 1946, by the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas, Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC), the award reco ...

for Best Short Fiction Film, the Golden Coral for Animation at the 1994 Havana Film Festival and special recognitions at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and the 1996 World Festival of Animated Film Zagreb.

Awards and nominations

Legacy

''El héroe'' was the first Mexican short film to win the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

and it was the second time a Mexican director was awarded the Palme d'Or since

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

when

Emilio Fernández Emilio "El Indio" Fernández Romo (; 26 March 1904 – 6 August 1986) was a Mexican film director, actor and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific film directors of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. He is best know ...

won the Grand Prix with María Candelaria. Though it was not the first Mexican animated film, Carrera's short film and its award at

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

are credited for bringing attention to animated films to the Mexican film industry and to a new generation of Mexican filmmakers. Since, ''El héroe'', Carrera has made a few animated short films. In 2017, he premiered '' Ana y Bruno'', an animated

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

with an estimated budget of US$5.35 million, making it the most expensive animated Mexican film.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heroe 1994 films Short Film Palme d'Or winners 1994 animated short films Films set in 1994 Films set in Mexico City Mexican animated short films 1990s Spanish-language films Films directed by Carlos Carrera 1990s Mexican films