Encanto, Disney’s tribute to Colombia.

Disney presents its new film (its 60th film) inspired by Colombian-inspired Colombia, discover it without delay between magical realism and reggaetón music.

Directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush – the creators of Oscar-nominated Zootopia – Encanto is a film that, for many fans of the studio, breaks with the various formulas that Disney had developed before.

With a resignification of magic in light of movements such as magical realism, a commitment to the diversity of its characters, and exhaustive research on Colombia, the film opens with high expectations from audiences, especially Colombian .

In this article, we tell you more about the creative process the directors and production team went through to bring Colombia to life in this animated feature film. Identify the Colombian winks and character traits in Encanto below!

Understanding Colombia

One of the film’s main challenges was to translate Colombia’s multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity to the screen. In this sense, Encanto has been a continuous 5-year effort to get to know Colombia, the faces of its people, the natural landscapes that characterize it, the music that plays in its streets and the daily life of the magical towns that abound in the region.

Unlike other Disney titles, to create Encanto, the makers of the film, along with American composer, lyricist and producer Lin Manuel Miranda and his father, made a series of trips to Colombia, visiting Colombian families, emblematic landscapes like the Cocora Valley, and wondering what Colombia is.

In the film, we can appreciate various characteristic elements of certain Colombian regions, such as:

– The flowery balconies that characterize Cartagena de Indias. If you have walked in the city center, you will have noticed the density of its flowers and its colors.

The wax palm is the characteristic element of the Cocora Valley located in Quindío.

-The dense bougainvillea that abounds in Colombian homes.

-The colonial architecture that dominates the magical cities of Colombia. 

Madrigal House contains elements from various regions of Colombia, such as colonial architecture and balconies. In addition to traditional research, the directors brought together a group of Colombian artists, journalists, documentary filmmakers and botanists to form the Colombian Cultural Trusta group of professionals from various disciplines who could collaborate as points of reference to give the film a greater degree of authenticity.

Magical realism and Colombia

Within Latin American literature, one of the stylistic movements that has most marked the region is, of course, magic realism.

With the famous Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez as one of its main exponents, this movement is characterized by the narration of daily life emphasizing unusual or fantastic aspects, without really alluding to them as elements outside the realm of the world. common order.

The novel by García Márquez, A hundred years of loneliness, which won him the Nobel Prize, is a clear example of how magical realism works in storytelling. Among the dozens of examples that exist in this book, one of the most memorable is that of the yellow butterflies that surround Mauricio Babilonia, one of the novel’s characters, almost as if by magic.

In the film, García Márquez’s yellow butterflies are seen throughout the film and are elements that clearly reference one of Colombia’s most revered and influential writers.

By taking magical realism as one of the main references, Disney has managed to create a story that does not approach magic in a Westernized way, full of wands and spells, but as a particular way that other cultures tend to conceive the world and their daily life.

The family, a challenge for animators

Unlike most Disney films, Enchantress stands out as a film that creates not one or five main characters, but twelve.

This meant that the writing team had to create story arcs for each of the characters, and the animation team had to model and create twelve separate characters with different color schemes, costumes, and hairstyles. A level of complexity that, in the words of the directors, they had never experienced before.

Likewise, to represent the multiethnicity that exists in Colombia – where there are approximately 87 indigenous peoples, as well as Afro-descendants, mestizos and whites – it is remarkable that there is great diversity in the colors of skin of the movie characters.

In addition, the film depicts typical elements of certain Colombian communities, such as:

– The typical costume of Vélez in Santander.

– Espadrilles, common shoes in most typical costumes.

– The vueltiao hat, originating from the Zenú culture.

– The Colombian ruana, a garment originating from the Colombian Andes.

Colombian talents

Although the film is directed by Americans, a number of Colombian actors, musicians, writers, and illustrators collaborated on voice-overs, music, and promotional items for the film.

Among them, the collaboration of reggaeton singer Maluma as the voice of Mariano and the participation of Sebastián Yatra and Carlos Vives, two of Colombia’s most renowned musicians.

Likewise, for the film’s promotional items, a collaboration has been established with Colombian artists and illustrators such as Catalina Estrada (@catalinaestrada), Sebas Pakui, Diana Ordóñez (also known as Ledania) and Johnny Nuñez, illustrator, print designer and teacher at Domestika. Among the items they made for the film, you can find art pieces with each artist’s designs, props, household items and more.

For many, Encanto marks a new era in Disney productions, from how they approach film storytelling to the type of characters we see.

All that remains is to go see ENCANTO and judge for ourselves!

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