The History Of The 'I Am Frankelda' Film And Where It Can Be Seen Today

TV & Film

May 3

Directed and written by the Ambriz Brothers, Roy and Arturo, I Am Frankelda is a spin-off/prequel film of Frankelda's Book of Spooks, an anthology animated stop-motion series from Mexico currently streaming on HBO Max in both the United States and Latin America.

I Am Frankelda tells the story of young aspiring writer Francisca Imelda, who dreams of having her work published, but to no avail after suffering rejection after rejection. But a prince from another dimension, by the name of Herneval, promises to make her dreams come true, but Francisca is unaware of the dark secrets and motivations that are planned for her by nefarious forces at hand. Nefarious forces who intend to hold her captive forever.

I Am Frankelda has had quite the journey, or even more accurately, the show itself Frankelda's Book of Spooks from its initial stages as a web series-complete with a four minute pilot that was uploaded in 2019 on Cartoon Network Mexico's YouTube Channel as it was originally pitched as such but just as companies making their own streaming services were gearing up, especially for international audiences, HBO Max ended up backing the project and was expanded into a full on animated anthology series and as such, the Ambriz brothers expanded the scope as well.

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The Ambriz Brothers, Roy (left) and Arturo — Image Source: Animation Magazine

When it came time to do the movie, however, it went through not just a change in distributor but also its titles as initially at the Pixelatl Film Festival, it was initially announced as Frankelda and the Prince of Spooks before settling into the title it's known now as I Am Frankelda.

Interestingly, this was actually originally conceived as a half-hour special for Cartoon Network Latin America after they suggested such an idea instead of a second season, but along the way, the script expanded into feature length to the point of writing 200 pages of the final script and in the end, after CN Latin America basically allowed them to find funding elsewhere as long as they kept a percentage, the Ambriz brothers financed the film themselves with their production company Cinema Fantasma.

This was something of a huge risk too as this was Mexico's first stop motion animated film, let alone an independent one, and a lot was riding on the film's success as it embarked on a three-year filming journey, as it found money from a lot of sources, even to the point of mortgaging the home of the Ambriz brothers' parents. But did not stop it from receiving help, some of which most notably came from acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and even his long-time editor Evan Schiff, who both helped guide the story, and del Toro even helped the film secure its distribution deal in Mexico.

After three years of filming, more specifically two and a half years of filming and the extra months dedicated to post production, re-editing and sound design, the overall production was completed and even in its rough form, it was screened at various film festivals even before the final edit was settled on for its theatrical release.

I Am Frankelda has had releases in film festivals across the summer in 2025, starting with the 40th Guadalajara International Film Festival as it was the opening film for that film festival on June 5th of that year. Followed by a screening at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Most notably, it was screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 20th where it won the awards for the Silver Audience Award for Best Animated Film and even the Special Jury Mention for Best Animated Feature.

And aside from being screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival on October 29th, I Am Frankelda had managed to find a distributor in the homeland of Mexico, as well as in Panama and Guatemala, as Cinépolis Distribución acquired the distribution rights and released the film on October 23rd to much critical acclaim.

And it didn't stop there as most notably, I Am Frankelda was recently screened for animators at the Walt Disney Animation Studio, which, despite what certain sections of the internet will tell people, there is camaraderie between the two animation studios and no animosity whatsoever; Disney and Cinema Fantasma in this instance seem supportive of each other.

But it did not take too long, as the film finally found its United States/Worldwide distributor, as I Am Frankelda will be distributed worldwide by Netflix for the streaming rights.

I Am Frankelda is set to be released on Netflix on June 12th, 2026. And while unfortunately it will likely not get seen on the big screen but at the very least, it will be seen by people regardless.