In 2007, Piñata won best short screenplay at the Slamdance film festival. The brain child of Ken Locsmandi, award winning visual effects artist and an accomplished director and screenwriter in his own right, that screenplay jump started Ken on the amazing journey to turn Piñata into something children the world over could experience.
After developing a partnership with Sebastian Jones at Stranger Comics, the renowned creators of The Untamed and Niobe, Locsmandi and Jones teamed up to turn this beloved screenplay into a beautifully written and illustrated children’s story. The artwork and story that was developed during this undertaking helped to inspire the iteration of Piñata in the form of a feature film.
Once they saw the amazing response that the book received, and were able to experience the characters coming to life on the written page and in the beautiful artwork by Tomo, Ken set out to transform Piñata into it’s penultimate form, and realize it as a feature film. With the strength of his own professional past and the expertise of Filmworks Fx, the talented animation and visual effects studio behind him, Ken Locsmandi is prepared to turn Hollywood on its head, and add his creation to the likes of some of the most beloved children’s films the world has seen.