Connected Ink Feature: The charming journey of Panchita!!

Connected Ink is Wacom’s celebration of art, technology, and creative chaos. It creates a space for continuous exploration about the future of human creativity by bringing imaginative and curious people from all walks of life together to ask questions, exchange ideas, and inspire each other about new and alternative ideas at the convergence of art, education, science, and technology. One of the upcoming sessions features the creators of Panchita!!, a lovely 3D animated short film. For more about the film, and the upcoming Connected Ink session featuring its creators, read on!

Panchita!! is an animated short film about a South American girl living on an informal settlement with dreams of dancing. Unsaid Studio created the short film in collaboration with and as a fundraiser for TECHO, an NGO that has built homes for 131,000 South American families in 18 countries over the last 25 years.

Here’s a preview of the gorgeous, charming 3D animated art of Panchita:

The cause

To raise awareness of the fact that over 200 million people live in poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean today, with no proper home, no potable water, sewage, or electricity access, TECHO paired with Unsaid Studio to transform this scenery into a classic story, made with time, love and most importantly: created for a good cause.

Through Panchita, TECHO and Unsaid Studio aim to represent the kids that live in informal settlements and bring awareness to the work TECHO does with communities on 18 countries.

Story and characters

“Mama we have a floor! We have a floor!”

A TECHO volunteer described the joy of seeing a 6-year-old girl dance for the first time in her new house, built by TECHO. This story perfectly illustrated the power of having a place to call home, and inspired the story of Panchita.

“Upon unearthing a magical old VCR, fate dictates that Panchita discovers her calling: to tap dance. Guided by an unexpected, supernatural friend, Mr. Bo, this new passion will connect her with the wide world as she transforms her very own surroundings.”

6-year-old Panchita lives in an informal settlement with her grandmother, unaware of the wider struggle of poverty she lives within. Upon finding an old VHS tape, and unexpectedly meeting a ghostly mentor named Mr. Bo, she is inspired to learn to tap dance.

The artwork

In a child’s eyes, the world is full of bright colors and simple shapes. Because TECHO empowers and uplifts, the film is also a tale of hope. So the bright, simple, toy-like style represents both TECHO’s mission and the childlike wonder of the main character, Panchita.

“When you donate, TECHO enables you to reach into an informal settlement and affect someone’s life in a physical way. Our toy-like set makes it easy to imagine placing a new model home into the scene with your own hands.”

The process

Panchita was created by a large team, and led by director Doug Bello. They primarily used Cinema4D and Redshift for the animation and rendering process, and similar to how Pretend VFX created the Oscar-winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once, they used online collaboration tools and Wacom products to create the film remotely.

Learn more about the film during Connected Ink 2023

To learn more about or to support TECHO with a donation, check out their website. To learn more about Unsaid Studio, check out their website, their Behance page, or their Vimeo, or follow them on Instagram. Or check out their upcoming session at Connected Ink 2023:

Update:

The short film has been released! Watch it here: