La Noria, The Waterwheel, 2012

I am humbled everyday as a stop motion animator and a student working on my craft and watching so many bodies of work for talented animators. Stop motion being the oldest medium of animation, there is no shortage of great works for me to pull from. That's why I loved the history class the most as a first year MFA student. It gave me fuel I need to go on as well as endless references.

Karla Castaneda is a talented animator/ director from Mexico who directed this tragic piece about a loss of a child, La Noria. As someone who went through same experience, this piece speaks to me. It's a touching tale told through a powerful female voice although the protagonist is the male figure. The story, fabrication, expressions done with so little change, and the music... there is a lot similarities I love about Jiri Trnka in this piece as well.