Guillermo del Toro: Mexican director won his third Academy Award and is celebrated as a ‘national hero’

Director Guillermo del Toro was hailed today on social networks and in political circles and other sectors of Mexico as a true hero, obtaining his third Oscar Prize for Best Animated Feature in Hollywood.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador lor qualified as “exceptional” and “pride for Mexico”after yesterday the 58-year-old director obtained the most coveted statuette in Hollywood cinema for his film Pinocchioon the work of the Italian Carlo Collodi, published in 1881.

Produced by streaming giant Netflix using the technique known as “Stop Motion”, the film earned the Mexican director this accolade five years after winning his first two Academy Awards, for Best Picture and Best Director for The shape of water.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard sent del Toro his “heartfelt congratulations” and He also called it “a pride” for the country.

The head of the pro-government college in the Senate, Ricardo Monreal, described how “moving” the animated film by his compatriot, to whom he congratulated “for the well-deserved award”.

Thanks to Guillermo del Toro in Mexico

Another exponent of the Mexican political scene, the head of government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, sent a hug to del Toro for his third Oscar and said that “Mexicans are very happy to see you succeed” in Hollywood.

In addition, the capital newspaper El Universal pointed out that Del Toro “he became a national hero giving our country another triumph in the world of cinema” and he said it Pinocchio it is “his most personal work and a film that has quickly become an audience favourite”.

“Pinocchio”, adaptation of the children’s classic by Guillermo del Toro

The animated film competed with a sequel to The cat with the boots and with Grill from Disney, but it was the big favorite to go up as winner in its category.

Guillermo del Toro said in his first statements after winning the Oscar that his triumph “opens doors for other Latinos” in the United States, whom he encouraged to “do things right so that more opportunities come along.”

He also noted that “things have changed since I arrived in the ’90s”, when “there was a lot of open racism”. Now, however, the “glass ceiling” has been broken, but “You always have to push” because this “doesn’t end with one generation or one person,” said the director.

Guillermo del Toro’s career

Del Toro was born in Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, on October 9, 1964. He studied at the Film Studies and Research Center of the University of Guadalajara, where he graduated in 1983 and was also a professor. He worked in makeup design for years before founding his own production company, Necropia, with which he made his debut film Cronos, 1993.

​This work has earned del Toro nine Ariel Awards, the Mexican equivalent of the Oscar. After this film, del Toro emigrated to the United States, where he made films such as hell boy, Titans of the Pacific, the scarlet summit, the shape of waterand more recently The alley of lost soulsamong many others.