We were very lucky to attend a press conference last month where Louis Gonzales gave an inspiring presentation about his experience directing Nona, including all the hurdles he had to overcome. Most of all, Gonzales’ journey creating a short film with a small group of talented Pixar employees gave him a real appreciation for the value of teamwork.

There are essentially just three characters in Nona. It’s named for the short’s main protagonist: Nona; a grandmother with a love for wrestling. But alongside Nona, there’s her lovable pitbull, and her adorable granddaughter. Nona was inspired by Gonzales’ own grandmother.

She loved wrestling … And that was the time that me and her bonded when was like “Louis, you love wrestling? I love wrestling too.” And I was like, oh my goodness, I have the coolest grandma.

Louis Gonzales

Similarly, Nona’s granddaughter was inspired by Gonzales’ daughter Lola. It’s little personal touches like this that always make SparkShorts so special.

A really sweet fact we learned about the creation of Nona was how attached the whole team got to the dog. Gonzales grew up with pitbulls, and knew he ideally wanted to include one in his short despite the time limit and budget implications. Deep down, he knew the dog would probably have to get cut out somewhere down the line, but the entire Nona crew grew so attached to the lovable guy that they made it happen. I always like a story about humans making sacrifices for animals – even animated ones.

Nona is just 8 minutes long, but packs a real punch – even without the wrestling! You can tell a lot of love went into every second of it, from every member of the small team. It’s a real testament to working together.

When I watch this short, I don’t really see me or what I’m tryin’ to do. I actually see we. I see Team Nona. I see what we made.

Louis Gonzales

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