The Girona-born chef who cooks for the homeless has won a Goya Award

GironaOn Saturday night, filmmaker Albert Serra, from Banyoles, won the Goya Award for best documentary of the year with his A shocking film about bullfighting, Afternoons of solitude. However, he wasn't the only person from Girona to take home a statuette at the Spanish Film Academy Awards gala: Jordi Jiménez, a resident of Salt, also went up on stage to receive an award; in his case, for Gilbert, a little gem of stop-motion A short film about friendship and selfishness, recognized as best animated short.

The 12-minute short tells the story of two endearing characters who live in small houses by the sea; one plays the trumpet and the other delivers packages by gondola. Jordi Jiménez is the co-director, along with Arturo Lacal from Valencia and Álex Salu from Asturias. All three creators have extraordinary talent and passion for animation, but they combine this creative world with other jobs to make a living: Salu is a video game developer; Lacal teaches Spanish to foreigners; and Jiménez works as a cook at La Sopa, the Girona City Council's shelter for the homeless. "I'm still on cloud nine. Because I've seen the footage, otherwise I wouldn't believe it. We didn't go in with any expectations; we weren't going to lose, just not to win, because being there was already a prize," Jiménez admits, visibly moved.

The short film premiered at a Shanghai festival and, before reaching the Goya Awards, has been screened at 65 festivals worldwide, in countries such as Mexico, Canada, Poland, and Greece, receiving a very positive reception. It was financed through a Verkami campaign and also with a creation grant from the Girona City Council.

A course for the unemployed and artisanal animation

The three directors met in a course of stop-motion for unemployed people in Hospitalet de Llobregat, in 2018, and they connected immediately. There they created a first piece made with the same techniques that they would later replicate. Gilbert: he cutoutwhich, in Jiménez's words, consists of "animating paper cutouts mixed with traditional 2D animation based on transparencies, all recorded on a multi-platform table." Among the course instructors were Irene Iborra, Edu Puertas, and Mikel Mas, creators of the film Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake, awarded to the Gaudí Prize, which has advised them throughout the creative process of Gilbert.

The short film's visual style is beautiful, like a collage of moving puppets, with overlapping layers and painted textures that create depth and relief without resorting to 3D. "Aesthetically, it's very appealing and visually pleasing. With digital animation, you have to fight with the software"It makes some things easier, but complicates others," Jiménez argues. Here, however, the work is artisanal and manual, frame by frame, figure by figure. A decision that, beyond the visual approach, is almost political: "In this world of artificial intelligence and 3D, we champion truth, reality, reflection, reflection, reflection. To animate little by little and enjoy the journey," argues the Girona-born creator.

The directors, who are already working on the creative process of another short film using the same animation techniques, also insist on the need to overcome the supposed equivalence between animation and a purely family audience: "Of course Gilbert "A child can watch it and see many things, but so can an adult; it has many layers. Short films and animation are also cinema and, therefore, can tell any story," Jiménez concludes.

Cooking for homeless people, a hard but rewarding job

Jordi Jiménez has juggled the whirlwind of the last few months with flexible shifts in the kitchen of La Sopa, in Girona's old town, working with people experiencing extreme poverty, mental health issues, or substance abuse. "It's not easy because these aren't success stories; there's no romanticized vision of overcoming adversity. But at the same time, it's rewarding: being able to do something, to offer support, to make a good meal… Professionally, it's also a challenge because we rely on food donations, which we're currently receiving very little of, and you have to make do with what you have to create a decent dish." This double life highlights how difficult it is to make a living as an entertainer in Catalonia. However, Jiménez sees the positive side of not mixing his artistic vocation with the desire to make money: "I like having my creative side protected. If you can dedicate yourself to it freely, it's ideal, but if you have to do projects that aren't yours, like advertising, that's a different story." I enjoy cooking, and that way I can separate work from art.