Pablo Polledri's "Ella" was a hit last year. This year he's back and made it to the Finals with his dark comedic cartoon reflection on romantic obsession, "Remembering".

So...tell us about you
My name is Pablo Polledri. I was born and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I studied publicity and worked as an art director for different agencies. Now I work for myself doing illustration, publicity and design. In my free time I work in animation, write scripts, draw and play some music. I play guitar. I am recording some songs on my computer and trying to play other instruments, but I am advancing slowly in that area.


How did you end up doing what you do?
I started out like most animators making animations in the borders of my books. I remember an animation show on television that taught how to do animations in the first few minutes of the program. I liked that part more than the rest of the show. I always felt drawn to making animation and so I decided to start. I never studied it formally, I am self-taught. I only took classes in drawing and painting.

I like the idea of telling stories and animation is a great way to do that. I started making animations and uploading them to a web site. The result of that is www.maniacplanet.com.ar.

Who are your influences?
I could say a lot of names and forget many more. I will try to name some of them:
Animators: Don Hertzfeldt, Paul Driessen, Bill Plympton, Phil Mulloy, Cordell Barker, Priit Pärn, Raoul Servais, Hayao Miyazaki. Animation series that I enjoyed in the last few years: Neon Genesis Evangelion, FL CL, Cowboy Bebop, The Simpsons and South Park. Film directors that I admire: Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson. Another artist that influences me is Mike Patton.

Watch Pablo's video entry REMEMBERING
Check out Pablo's Boomzone