Costa Rican animator Manuel López talks about his moving short film "Memories for sale"

July 5 2020

The beautiful short film by Costa Rican animator Manuel López Memories for sale is a 2D CGI short film created with love for a young man who decides to sell his deceased father's taxi. The artist, a graduate of Veritas University and also Manu Mercurial, recently told us about his inspirations and his experience in creating this graduation project.

Animag: congratulations on the success of your recent work. Can you tell us how it was made?

Manuel Lopez: This story comes from a place close to my heart. As some people who have seen the short have found out, he has a little truth about me.

Manuel Lopez

I am happy to say that my parents are alive and that we have a good relationship. When I was six, my mother had a ruptured aneurysm. I had to say goodbye, as the part of her brain that needed surgery was only a 10% chance of not having permanent damage, and there was a good chance she could die. This had a big impact on me. At the same time, my father was an alcoholic for most of his life. I am very happy to say that the operation went perfectly well and my father stopped drinking more than 10 years ago, but these two events were the inspiration to ask me: “What would have happened if my mother died in that operation and my father had never stopped drinking? This has created a story based on a grieving character who is seeking true forgiveness, in which he understands his father so well that he feels there is nothing left to forgive.

How long did it take you to finish your short film?

It was a drawing I made in 2015. You can see the anatomy is pretty awful. I didn't pick up a pencil until I was 19 and I'm currently 26. I went through my entire university education convinced that since I was studying for a 3D animation degree, I didn't need to learn how to draw. It was just a defense or defense mechanism to avoid admitting that I was terrible at drawing. I was afraid of the amount of time and hard work it would take me to improve.

Manuel Lopez drawing of fruits

And then, in 2017, I reached the end of my university education and had to choose what to do for my graduation short film. But for me this was a more important question: "What am I really passionate about?"

The answer was frame-by-frame 2D animation! Like the thousands of hours I've seen all my life, this has been my real passion. The only reason I didn't do it was because he was terrified of trying to learn how to draw and then fail. But I took the opportunity and decided to grit my teeth and dedicate the best part of the three years to improving in this profession. It was a rather painful process but I never looked back. Memories for sale is the result. And I can tell you without a doubt, now that I'm working on 2D animation, and I see the audience reaction to my short, that I'm the happiest person I've ever seen in my life!

So my message to anyone who wants to make a 2D or 3D animation or stop motion or whatever you call ... Just do it! Yes, it will be difficult. Yes, sometimes you will fail, many times! But after failing you will achieve something magical: nothing will happen when you fail, you will learn and improve. And once you acquire knowledge or skills, nobody can take it away from you. It's a wonderful feeling, and now I'm addicted to it, so I want to keep pushing because I still have so much to learn!

Who are some of your animation heroes? Favorite movie / animation series?

Probably my biggest inspiration was master Satoshi Kon for his storytelling and his films. I hope one day to be able to create something remote close to the masterpieces he created in his life. Anime productions have always influenced me a lot, but I don't really draw anime, so I wanted to go somehow between Asian and Western animation. And if I could name a director who has done animation but is famous for his live films, it's Michel Gondry who is definitely one of my biggest influences, and several people have told me they can see him in my film. This is the biggest compliment I've ever received.

What kind of reactions did you receive from the short film?

The response was overwhelming! As a first-time filmmaker, there are times when you ask yourself, “Am I also telling a story? Will anyone understand this? So it's wonderful to read the hundreds of encouraging comments and see so many people enjoying the story. I don't consider myself an artist, but a storyteller. So the story was my biggest concern and I'm glad people can sympathize with the character and make them "feel". This is my greatest achievement and I want to thank all of you who have given me four minutes of your time to tell you a story. As a director, you always feel that you could have made it stronger, but right now I am very proud of the result and hope the next one will be even better!