- Born
- Birth nameTomás Pichardo Espaillat
- Nickname
- Tomatico
- Tomás Pichardo-Espaillat (b. 1987) is a storyteller from the Dominican Republic. Working primarily on animation, film and illustration. He was granted a full year scholarship at Fabrica, Benetton's Design Research Center, in Treviso, Italy in 2013, where he worked on film & video. Tomás received his BFA in animation at Parsons, The New School of Design in 2010. And his AA degree in fine arts, at altos de Chavon, in 2008.
An alumni of Berlinale Talents, Talents Guadalajara and Pictoplasma Academy, Pichardo's work has hints of magic realism. Evoking the colorful, surreal and sometimes disorienting experience of growing up in the Caribbean. His world is personal and intimate, with characters full of colors and textures, drawn into situations outside of their comfort zone. His animations has been screened at Locarno film festival (Switzerland), Annecy animation film festival (France), International Film Festival Rotterdam (Amsterdam), BFI London Film Festival (UK), Raindance film festival (UK), Quirino Awards (Tenerife), Havana Film Festival (Cuba) and Lago Film Fest (Italy), among others.
- IMDb mini biography by: Cine Chani
- Often uses mixed media techniques in his animations.
- His animations often integrate live-action elements.
- He frequently uses music by Cem Misirlioglu.
- His films often show people dancing.
- Cites his influences as Haruki Murakami, Ingmar Bergman, David Lynch, Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña, Marcell Jankovics and Chris Sullivan.
- It took writer-director Tomás Pichardo-Espaillat 10 years to make Olivia & the Clouds (2024).
- His favorite animated films include Consuming Spirits (2012), Alice (1988), The Wolf House (2018), Mind Game (2004), Son of the White Mare (1981), The Cat's Mill (1993), Habfürdö (1980) and Hedgehog in the Fog (1975).
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