September 19 Vallejo/Vacaville Arts and Entertainment Source: Animated short film wins hearts with touching portrayal of ALS

A short film produced by Vallejo native Adrian Ochoa is making its mark at film festivals both locally and internationally. But the 10-minute film is more than just its award-winning buzz.

“LUKi & the Lights” is a short, colorful animated film that raises awareness and acts as an educational resource for the disease ALS. Created by Big Grin Productions, the film showcases the company’s focus on authentic stories from animators whose resumes include Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks.

The film’s premise takes inspiration from the real-life story of Dutch couple Anjo Snijders and his wife Sascha Groen. Following Snijders’ ALS diagnosis, he and Groen struggled to explain the disease to their young children but were frustrated at the lack of educational resources. They came up with a rough story and robot character and pitched it to Big Grin.

Ochoa, whose writing credits include “Wall-E,” “Inside Out” and “Toy Story 2,” brought years of professional expertise to the film, as well as his own personal experience with ALS.

“My grandfather passed away from ALS in 1994, and at the time we didn’t know what the disease was,” said Ochoa. “I just remember my mom telling me that as his disease progressed, he would be trapped in his own body.”

“My personal experience with ALS brought an added layer of dedication and passion to our project, ensuring that we approached the story with the sensitivity and accuracy it deserves,” said Ochoa.

Through robot characters, the film depicts how certain parts of the body can shut down during the disease’s progression, shown by lights flickering off in the robot’s joints. This film marks the first time an animated character depicts and visually explains the disease to families and children.

Given the sensitive, personal nature of the film, Big Grin Productions expanded beyond their usual client-vendor relationship and collaborated alongside Groen and Snijders to uphold certain non-negotiables. It was important for Snijder that the film be educational, medically accurate, play worldwide and have no known language.

When Snijders was first diagnosed, his initial life expectancy was three to five years, “and actually during the production of the film it actually went up to seven years,” said Ochoa. “We felt that the project gave him something to look forward to and motivated him to keep going.”

The film’s production timeline was goaled to allow Snijders to see the final product, but with financial constraints the film took two and a half years to complete — still a relatively quick timeline for an animated short film. It soon became clear that Snijders wouldn’t make the original New York premiere in March and a last-minute screening was arranged. Snijders got to see the film in the Netherlands before he died just two weeks later

“It’s been incredibly rewarding to see the film resonate with audiences globally,” said Ochoa.

Because the film uses a made-up language, or “robotnese” as Ochoa and Cochran call it, the message doesn’t require translation. The language is a play on the well-known “Minionese” spoken by Minions in the “Despicable Me” movies. “It’s Dutch, English and a little bit of Spanish and it’s transmuted into this awesome little robot-speak,” said Cochran.

While certain techniques like the film’s tone and language pay homage to movies like Wall-E, the film’s portrayal of death is remarkably new to Western animation. A veteran animator with 25 years of experience was tasked with animating the final scene for LUKi and he remarked that it was the hardest scene he ever had to create.

“Death is very much a part of the conversation,” said Toby Cochran, CEO of Big Grin Productions and the film’s director.

“Culturally, in Europe, death is more talked about whereas here, you don’t really talk about it or really show it,” said Ochoa, who added that this also applies to grieving.

Grieving is a key part of the process for caretakers, like Ochoa and his family were for his grandfather. “Most of the time when people get diagnosed and are dealing with ALS, the kids and families become caretakers and it was very important to show that in the film,” said Ochoa.

So far, the film has been accepted into 13 Academy Qualifying film festivals, including Tribeca, HollyShorts, and Burbank IFF as well as 54 festivals globally. The film has won awards in 15 of those, with some being the Matthew Curtis Audience Award for Best Short Film at the Florida Film Festival, the Audience Choice Award at Siggraph, the Animated Audience Choice Award at Indy Shorts and the Children’s Audience Award at Animayo.

Upcoming screenings in the Bay Area include the Superfest Disability Festival in SF on Oct. 19 and the San Jose SFF in late October.

Right now, “LUKi & the Lights” has qualified to be considered for the Oscars. It is sitting on the Oscar’s portal for members to watch and is eligible for voting once that opens in December.

The Oscar buzz fulfills one of Snijders’ final non-negotiables, that it be Oscar-worthy.

— For more information on “LUKi & the Lights,” please visit www.globalneuroycare.org

Originally Published: September 17, 2024 at 6:31 p.m.