Representation was a major point of conversation in the press room after "Coco" won the award for animated feature. Directors Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina and producer Darla K. Anderson fielded questions and compliments about the film's inclusivity and diversity.
"It takes an awareness of the fact that strong storytellers come from all sorts of places," said Molina. "At Pixar ... we work very hard to show that films about communities of color, films that come from particular places, have resonance that can reach across the world. We've seen that with 'Coco,' we've seen that with 'Black Panther' and I think you're going to see it with a lot of other films in the future."
Molina was also asked about his Mexican heritage and what it meant to him to help bring a story about his own culture to the big screen.
"Of all of the people at Pixar who, when they heard that me and Darla would be making a film about Mexico and Dia de los Muertos, I was one of the people who said, 'I need to work on that film,'" he said. "So much of my experience growing up, so much of the pride coming from family and a place that is proud of who they are ... to have this opportunity to reflect all of those experiences with a wonderful team at Pixar, was something that I knew if not know, than when?"
When the filmmakers started making Coco six years ago, "It was a very different political climate of course than it is now," said Lee.
"While we were making the film we had a change in presidency and a lot of things started to be said about Mexico and about Mexican-Americans that was unacceptable," he said. "And while we were making the film we began to feel a new urgency to get the movie out into the world. To get a positive message about the beauty of Mexico, the beauty of the Mexican people, the beauty of their culture and traditions into the world and also to give Mexican American kids something to look up to, something to aspire to, to see a bit of themselves up onscreen."
The importance of a film like "Coco" was not lost on Lee, who aimed to keep the story as true to life as possible.
"We tried to make the best film, the most authentic, the most respectful film that we could," Lee continued. "It just means the world to us that the film ended up being the biggest movie of all time in Mexico and that it's done so well all around the world including places like China that you wouldn't expect a film like 'Coco' to do well in."
