Alberto Mielgo's last contribution to Love, Death + Robots, "The Witness," was a standout entry in the season, earning him three Emmies and an Annie award. Toping the stunning and personal short would certainly be an undertaking, but this was a challenge that Mielgo was ready for. His new short for the latest volume of the animated anthology tackles some of the most difficult things to animate -- splashing water, glittering jewels, hair -- and does so in a fluid, dance-like style that, much like the siren at the heart of its story, is hard to look away from. "Jibaro" delivers the impeccable animation that Mielgo is known for in a dark fairytale about a Deaf knight encountering a golden siren in a lush forest and the violence that ensues.
Director Alberto Mielgo sat down with CBR ahead of the release of Love, Death + Robots Volume 3 to talk about "Jibaro." He addressed his love of comics, the difficult themes of the short (on top of the difficulties in animating the glistening story), and where the mysterious name comes from.
CBR: I write for Comic Book Resources, thanks for chatting with me today.
Alberto Mielgo: Nice. I love Comic Book Resources. That's amazing.
Are you a fan of comic books?
I grew up with comic books, of course. That's the reason why we are talking here, basically, just because I wanted to be a comic book artist when I was a kid.
Well, it's led you to such great heights. The animation of "Jibaro" is impeccable, which is really saying something because you chose some really difficult subjects, I think, to animate in this. So can you talk about how you decided to set such a challenge for yourself?
It's true. It was truly a challenge in terms of the story. It's a challenge because it talks very much about myself. Both the girl and Jibaro are based on myself. I am the one that chooses this sort of person that perhaps is not treating me very well. I think that we usually do that a lot, sort of like it's a strange punishment that we choose... There are also some times that I choose to go for things that are red flags everywhere, and I tend to ignore them. I also go for things that perhaps are beautiful, and I don't care so much what is behind, what they have to say. So it was very challenging because obviously, I'm talking on a very personal level about two characters that they're basically a mix of many things that happened to me in what can be like a toxic relationship.
In terms of the look, it was a massive challenge because I usually have a much easier time when I paint basically landscapes of urban [settings] or buildings or anything that is a little bit more industrial -- that basically doesn't move. My brain registers it and analyzes it better than a very organic forest full of leaves that are constantly moving, changing. The light is constantly changing as well and hitting in very different ways, while in a building, the light is, "boom!" just hitting there. If there is a shadow, [it's] usually like, "boom...". So it was a huge challenge, both for the story and, obviously, visually. Technically, we almost died during this as well.
Well, the short is great. I'm sorry you had to go through so much to get there. Can you tell us a little bit about where the name "Jibaro" comes from?
This is so funny. The name doesn't make any sense. At first, I just wanted to do a story of a knight in the middle of some sort of forest. I wanted him to be sort of tribal-looking. In this case, I chose [a] very Spanish character, and that was the title, "Jibaro," without knowing what jibaro means. Then I started [doing] some research, and jibaro is a word that, in South America, they use in different countries with different meanings, apparently. In some countries, it means some sort of wild or savage [person], and in some other countries, it means some sort of a countryside person that works in the fields. I think that even in Venezuela, it has something to do with drug dealing [at] a high level. [laughs]
This happened after. I just think that it's a cool catchy name. It sounds sort of exotic for some reason, so I wanted to stick with it. By the way, in the movie, we never actually say who is Jibaro, which is kind of the funny thing. We assume it's him, but maybe it's not.
Catch Love, Death + Robots Volume 3 streaming now on Netflix.