Pinocchio: Behind-the-Scenes Exhibition

»No art form has influenced my life and my work more than animation and no single character in history has had as deep of a personal connection to me as Pinocchio «, says acclaimed director and Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro. High-quality horror dramas with elaborate animation and costumes such as Pan's Labyrinth (2006) or The Shape of Water (2017) are his trademark. With Pinocchio (2022), del Toro is realising a completely animated film for the first time together with co-director Mark Gustafson − in elaborate stop-motion technique. The exhibition Guillermo del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio at the Museum of Modern Art in New York leads through the exciting production history of the film. It runs from 11 December to 15 April.

The stop-motion technique is a costly, lengthy animation process that is rarely used anymore. About 375 crew members worked on the realisation in parallel in the USA, Mexico and England. For close-ups, they produced a head and torso of Pinocchio that is over 170 cm high and will be shown in the exhibition. Parallel to the show, MoMA is organising special screenings of the film between 4 December and 3 January. Pinocchio will be screened on Netflix from 9 December and presents itself as a new, darker version of the classic children's book. It is not to be confused with the Disney film of the same name starring Tom Hanks, which was released a few weeks ago.