"The Apricot" is a 2D animated short film, written & directed by Alex Z. Avila. Alex was selected as a fellow for the Spark Animation Fellowship 2024-2025, presented by the Latino Film Institute, and sponsored by the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity. The completed short will have a special screening at LALIFF 2025. 

• • Learned and utilized ToonBoom Storyboard Pro to assemble watchable scenes out of images provided by the storyboard team.

  • Learned and utilized DaVinci Resolve to assemble a professional quality animatic that received final approval by executive staff at the Latino Film Institute, allowing the project to move to the next stage of production.

An animated short film about a young boy and girl who move into apartments across from one another at the same time.

A film built by a team with no prior experience with animation. 

Producer duties included: 

• Developing team structure.

• Hiring for all departments, incl. animation, music, foley (sound effects), backgrounds, concept art, character design, prop design.

• Corresponding with team members.

Lead Animator duties included:

• Overseeing Emily's design and animation (co-lead oversaw Conor).

• Animation on most challenging Emily shots.

• Corresponding with director to ensure Emily's characterization shined through.