‘Decorado’ Director Alberto Vázquez Introduces Us to His Animals in Existential Crisis

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“The current global situation is very disturbing: wars, hyperconnectivity, polarization, artificial intelligence, megalomaniac leaders, mega-corporations that control everything. I think Decorado is a contemporary fable about this world, but I think reality is even worse than what the movie depicts.”

— Director Alberto Vázquez

Fans of popular Spanish comic-book artist turned animation director Alberto Vázquez know to expect brilliant allegories of modern society disguised as cute animal fables. The artist’s third feature project, Decorado (following Birdboy: The Forgotten Children and Unicorn Wars), which is based on his Goya Award-winning 2016 short of the same name, continues that tradition. The inventive 2D-animated movie centers on a middle-aged mouse who begins to suspect that his whole world is a setup — a fake “scenery” run by the powerful, faceless corporation known as ALMA (Almighty Limitless Megacorporative Agency). Call it Mickey Mouse meets The Truman Show in Fleischer town.

The La Coruña, Galicia-based director was generous enough to answer a few of our questions via email, just as his movie was about to premiere in his home country of Spain last month:

Animation Magazine: Decorado began its journey as a beautiful black-and-white short film. Why did you decide to expand it into a feature film, and in color?

Alberto Vázquez: It all started with some short comic stories I did about 15 years ago. Then, in 2016, just after finishing the film Psiconautas [Birdboy: The Forgotten Children], I wrote and directed the 10-minute short film Decorado, in which I revisited some of those stories and used graphics inspired by 19th century engravings in the style of Gustave Doré.

Years later, I met a screenwriter named Xavi Manuel, and together we started writing an animated series for adults based on the short film. This series project didn’t go ahead, but we liked many of the ideas and decided to write a feature film script.

It has been a long process to get to this film, full of coincidences and people who have made it possible. There was no predetermined plan to make this film when the short film was made.

When did you start working on the film, and how long did it take you to finish it?

Well, we started working on the screenplay in 2021/2022 and finished it in September 2025. Four years seems like a long time, but my previous films took about six years.

Decorado is a Spanish-Portuguese co-production by the studios Abano, Uniko, Glow and Sardinha em Lata. In Europe, films are financed with money from different regions, and this film was made in La Coruña (where I live), Bilbao, Almendralejo and Portugal.

The entire film [was] animated and lit in Blender (as was Unicorn Wars), and the backgrounds [were] done in Photoshop.

What would you say was the most difficult part of making this film?

There are many difficult parts because making an animated film is difficult in general. In addition to being an artist and having sensitivity, you need to have a lot of technical knowledge and a lot of emotional resilience. It takes many years of work, and there are many small problems all the time.

When you work on such long projects, you tend to lose perspective and go through many phases: You love the film, then you don’t like it anymore, then you’re tired, you think there are things that don’t make sense, you think it might have bad pacing. Well, in the end, you have to love it with its good and not-so-good aspects. It is your son.

Can you describe the film’s special visual style?

I’ve always been the art director on all my films, but on this film, I wanted to evolve my style a little. To do this, we brought in José Luis Agreda as art director. I already knew him from the world of comics and, as we are both artists, we got on very well both personally and professionally.

He had already worked as art director on films such as Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles and Robot Dreams, and he is someone who, in addition to having his own style, knows how to adapt perfectly to what the film needs.

At the beginning, we talked a lot about the possible visual identity of the film. We knew we wanted to keep the look of the characters similar to that of the short film and Unicorn Wars, but also to evolve the style. And José brought his own personality to the table. One of the most important aspects was the use of color. In this film, we wanted the colors to be symbolic and narrative, not naturalistic. Color must serve the story; it must support the emotions and themes. Working with José was a pleasure. He is very intelligent, a great artist, and the collaboration was very positive.

The animation direction was done by Pamela Poltronieri, an animator I have been working with for over 12 years. Pamela is a great professional and has taken great care with the characters’ performances. Even though they are animals, their gestures, looks and expressions are very human.

Have you always been influenced by the early animated shorts by Fleischer and Disney? What do you like about that style of animation?

The world of classic animation is what I saw on television as a child. It’s a world that gives me peace of mind, a kind of comfort zone. I really like the world of animals: They remind me of the beginnings of animation, comics and fables. Animals belong to all cultures. They have no defined time or place; they are universal.

I like working with all [those] classic, childlike aesthetics to deal with contemporary issues. I think that fantasy allows you to approach current issues in an original way. I was interested in talking about certain current crises: economic, employment, existential, relationship crises, as well as the superficial relationships of today’s world.

When did you first realize that you wanted to work in animation?

When I discovered the world of animated short films. After making my first short film, I was able to travel to many short film festivals around the world and fell in love with the artistic and narrative possibilities of this medium, which is so free and offers so many techniques.

I also came from a background in comics and illustration, but I always loved cinema. Animation is right between the two worlds: comics and cinema. So my adaptation was good, even though I never studied comics or cinema, but I was able to learn a lot from all the people I’ve worked with.

Who are your biggest animation influences?

Mary Blair, The Simpsons, Eyvind Earle, David OReilly, Miyazaki, Takahata, Michaël Dudok de Wit, J.J. Villard, Yuri Norstein, Jan Švankmajer, Genndy Tartakovsky, Réka Bucsi, Roland Topor, Vernon Chatman and others.

What is your take on the state of feature animation worldwide?

I think animation is a very powerful medium, although most of the films made are aimed at children or family audiences. I think that’s fine, but I miss more adult or auteur-style offerings, as is the case in live-action cinema. We’ll see how the sector evolves with the development of AI. It’s clear that it’s going to be a huge paradigm shift.

What do you hope audiences will take away from your new movie?

I would like the film to be remembered for some time after they have seen it. I mean that the viewer should remember a moment or scene that made them laugh, enjoy themselves, feel depressed or terrified. I would be satisfied with that.

Our world has become even more strange and surreal since your last film. Do you feel there is any hope for humanity? Maybe animation and comics are our only salvation?

The current global situation is very disturbing: wars, hyperconnectivity, polarization, artificial intelligence, megalomaniac leaders, mega-corporations that control everything. I think Decorado is a contemporary fable about this world, but I think reality is even worse than what the movie depicts.

Perhaps animation, comics, art, music and true friendship can help us a lot to cope with the current situation. At least they help me!

Decorado premiered October 24 in Spain. The film also had its L.A. premiere as part of the Animation Is Film Festival last month.