Alberto Vazquez from Birdboy Talks About Annecy Buzz’s Unicorn Wars

Following the success of his dystopian tale “Birdboy,” Spanish painter Alberto Vázquez is bringing another graphic novel to the big screen with his highly anticipated second film, “Unicorn Wars.” The film is set between two worlds: an unscrupulous industrial bear training camp, where light-coloured warriors prepare to fight, and a serene enchanted forest where majestic black-haired unicorns roam alongside pristine tree-lined lakes. The tune gets worse than ever as knights ride through the woods, getting close to them, forcing the docile creatures to defend their coveted surroundings.

Sold globally by Charades and distributed by UFO, “Unicorn Wars” is an apt depiction of human folly that leads to inner and outer conflict. Innocence is randomly destroyed by the explosion of a pink grenade while those in the trenches dig deep to find out what led them into battle.

A co-production between Spain’s Abano Producións (“Valentina”) and Uniko (“Birdboy”) along with French Autour de Minuit (“Swallow the Universe”) and Schumuby-Borderline Films (“Father & Son”), the film promotes Vasquez’s fascination with adolescence and the severity of daily upheaval, focusing on religious fanaticism, environmental decay, and the ancient war machine.

Before the film debuted in competition at the Annecy Festival, Vasquez spoke with him diverse About the animation’s appeal, shocking audiences, and creativity despite budget hurdles.

How does animation serve your narrative better than live action?
Animations allow me to play with other types of movements, cameras, and graphic processors. I work with characters and worlds that are like fantasy, like fables. I love creating contrasts and talking about contemporary and current issues. Sometimes it is interesting to be able to talk about these topics from metaphor, from wonderful worlds. My characters are like anthropomorphic animals, typical of fairy tales, but their behavior is very humane, very violent, cruel and absurd. I think it’s an interesting point of view.

The movie talks about the idea of ​​collateral damage. Do you feel we are all collateral damage, or is there hope for humanity?
There is hope for mankind, in the sense that there are many good people. This film is an anti-war tale that talks about the common origin of all wars.

Six years ago, when I started writing this script, I never thought we would live in a conflict like the current one in Europe. It is very worrying. Human evil stems from this capacity for self-destruction, conquest, and the desire to conquer new territories and economic interests. In a way, this movie deplores that. I don’t like that my movie coincides with this war, but maybe the movie now has another meaning. The only war that should exist is the war between bears and rhinos, the war as a joke, a bit cool and imaginative.

Can a smaller budget lead to greater versatility?
Sometimes it’s not about budget, it’s about creativity. Obviously, the higher your budget, the more time and equipment you need to finish, the better. But the text has nothing to do with budget, it’s about creativity and it’s about knowing what you want to tell and how you want to tell it.

Is animation for adults?
Animation for everyone, for kids and adults. It is a medium, through that medium you can tell children’s stories, adult stories, documentaries and dramas.

Children ask for animation. On the other hand, many adults think that animation is only for children, because they do not know the artistic richness of animation. why is that? Well, since there is so much to choose from, TV channels don’t bet much on other anime genres and there’s a bit of ignorance surrounding them.

The same can be said about people who are devoted to documentaries or people who make feature films. After all, there are thousands of movies made every year that are never seen. You only see the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot of invisible cinema.

Can you talk about the dichotomy between the brutal violence and black humor in the movie?
The movie is very violent. There is a lot of physical violence, a lot of emotional violence.

I like to provoke viewers. This movie will evoke emotions and feelings. I like for the viewer to be a little shocked, to remember it. There is nothing worse than movies that leave you shortly after trying them.

I also put a bit of humor in the middle. It’s a sarcastic sense of humor, a little dark, a little sarcastic.

If the entire movie is too dramatic, it loses the audience’s interest. You have to go to the tops of humor, some humor, some drama, and then violence. I think that’s where the rhythm and balance are.