Joaquin Baldwin was born and raised in Paraguay. His dad is an artist and his mom an environmental activist and it is their influences that have had the greatest impact on his art. When he was 19 he moved to the US to do his BFA at the Columbus College of Art & Design where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles right away to start a masters program in animation at UCLA. joaquin just finished his second year at UCLA, Sebastian's Voodoo is his second year film. Now he will be working on his thesis shortly. We're happy to interview this talented artist and speak about his universe and his movies.



IA: Since I have known your work, I think I discovered it with Alphamorphosis, I have enjoyed your unusual style. How would you describe it?

JB: I don't think I have a distinct style since I like to experiment with different mediums. I guess that the only thing that ties my "style" together is the poetic, silent narrative. My last 4 films are very different from each other, especially this last one.

IA: Do you think your work has evolved with time?

JB: It's definitely evolving in a more cinematic direction. I would like to direct for feature films and I have taken cinematography classes, which I think really shows in my last animation more than anything else.

IA: Papiroflexia was, in my opinion, a sort a visual poetry. Do you agree with this assertion? Could you tell us more about this film?

JB: You can clearly call it visual poetry as it was based on a poem I wrote. The poem inspired the film and the film became an almost precise, literal interpretation of the poem. The original idea was to have the poem as a voice-over to the images, but I dropped that in the middle of production since it was too redundant.

The film was inspired by 3 main things: A friend of mine (Fred) who is the character of the film, my love for origami, and my mother's teachings about the environment.

IA: What have you learned from this successful experience?

JB: It's been really interesting to see the reactions around the world. I learned to not hold back and really get the film out there, for everyone to see and as soon as possible. Also, that having a film that carries a meaning and a soul is really important when it comes to reaching out to people and making it to big festivals and winning awards... [Next Page --> Watch Sebastian's Voodoo]