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Meet Filipino-Canadian animator and Oscar nominee Trevor Jimenez

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Yong Chavez, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HQfzbpCqAe8?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>HOLLYWOOD - Ten years ago, Trevor Jimenez started writing a personal story about his family. Little did he know that this would bring him success all the way to the Academy Awards.To make his short film “Weekends,” Filipino-Canadian animator Jimenez had to take a year off from his job as a story artist at Pixar where he worked in films like “Finding Dory” and “Coco.”The idea for his 15-minute short film originally came from his drawing of a boy as he goes between the homes of his recently divorced parents.Jimenez drew it from his own childhood memory and once he put it online, it received responses that inspired the artist to develop a story.“From that point, I had this real motivation to capture childhood perspective in a divorced family in animation. I hadn’t seen it before. It’s so rooted in my own experience and something I wanted to share,” he said.In “Weekends,” Jimenez drew the mother with a neck brace because when he was young, his Filipina mom had been in car accidents. It also amplified her vulnerability during a difficult time.The film shows how divorce impacts a child but it doesn’t paint parents as villains. Drawing them truthfully but with empathy was important to the artist.“A lot of the writing was just trying to put myself in their shoes, you know. Trying to imagine what they’re going through and what struggles they had because they’re just people,” he said.“I think with our parents, we can’t look at them like they’re these, you know, flawless people or these icons but they’re just people and often child-like too in their own way. It’s a healthy thing to realize. So for me, it was very much just trying to empathize with them,” he added.Jimenez previously made a student short film in 2007 called “Key Lime Pie.”Since the release of “Weekends,” the film has received various recognitions, culminating with the Oscar nomination.“I had friends that would tell me, ‘Oh, you’re going to get nominated,’ way back, but I’m like, they’re just being a good friend. I maybe daydreamed about it but I never expected to be here. This is amazing,” he said.“Weekends” is available for rent or purchase on Vimeo on demand.

Ten years ago, Trevor Jimenez started writing a personal story about his family.

Ten years ago, Trevor Jimenez started writing a personal story about his family.

Meet Filipino-Canadian animator and Oscar nominee Trevor Jimenez

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Meet Filipino-Canadian animator and Oscar nominee Trevor Jimenez

Yong Chavez,

ABS-CBN North America News Bureau

Published March 03, 2019 06:21 PM PHT

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Trevor Jimenez

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