For Argentina’s Can Can Club, this one was personal. We caught up with Studio Heads Becho Lo Bianco and Mariano (Mab) Bergara to chat about the new short, currently launched on the festival circuit. “The concept of My Gut Friend touches a personal subject for us,” they said.
“As children, we’re often shaped in the image of a certain mandate—whatever that may be, to the point where we’re sometimes treated as weirdos or freaks for simply wanting to express what we carry inside and take a different path. That idea was the spark behind this short film.”
The production starting point was a scriptwriting contest at Mexico’s GUT Agency, which creative leads Rodrigo del Oso and José Mario Muñoz won. “The story was ideal to be an animation project and Through Primo Content our repping partners for South America they offered us the project.”
This story of a young man whose gut doesn’t just rumble, it speaks to him, is told in highly textured, color-saturated scenes. “We wanted to highlight the warm, human side through stop motion, so we crafted the characters in felt and the environments with distinctly handmade materials. We avoided laser cutting, 3D printing, and overly smooth surfaces in favor of keeping a visible human touch in every element.
“Creating an 8-minute stop motion short during a government change and economic turmoil was a huge challenge—both creatively and logistically. It required a significant budget and a lot of coordination between teams.
“A huge bunch of people got involved adding their grain of sand for making a new South American little movie like this happen. Big shoutouts to our friends at Feo Rocks in post-production, Papa Music for the original score, and Porta for sound design. Keeping everything cohesive while preserving the artisanal essence of the piece was definitely one of the biggest challenges.”
My Gut Friend is currently being shown at festivals around the world, some even have online versions while the festival is running. Check out the team’s social media to catch these opportunities before it’s released online.