Walt Disney Animation announces new projects with four directors, including Blindspotting's Carlos López Estrada

Walt Disney Animation Studio is planning four original projects with Carlos López Estrada and Suzi Yoonessi alongside studio veterans Josie Trinidad and Marc Smith, according to Variety. Variety adds that the announcement is among the efforts made by Disney and Walt Disney Animation chief creative officer Jennifer Lee to increase diversity and inclusion in the studio. The report mentions that the studio had announced Raya and the Last Dragon with Awkafina at the recent D23 Expo. [caption id=“attachment_7440311” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Carlos Lopez Estrada, the director of Blindspotting. Image from Facebook[/caption] “We aim to have Walt Disney Animation Studios serve as the premiere home for filmmakers interested in telling engaging stories within the limitless animation medium," Lee said in a statement. “Carlos and Suzi are two incredible, inventive filmmakers who have both received acclaim for their work. Josie and Marc, master, lead story artists, have been instrumental in shaping such films as Zootopia and Frozen 2. We are so thrilled to have these four talented artists join our 96-year-old studio as directors and help us build the stories of our future — adventures in completely original worlds, stories from around the globe, and the next generation of musicals." Estrada’s debut film, Blindspotting, opened at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Lionsgate for theatrical release. In the same year, he was nominated by the DGA (Directors Guild of America) for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director. He has also helmed an episode of FX’s Legion, starring Dan Stevens, Aubrey Plaza and Rachel Keller. Besides Unlovable, which followed a Filipino-American woman with sex addiction and her subsequent recovery, Yoonessi has directed Dear Lemon Lima with Savanah Wiltfong in the lead. She has helmed Daphne and Velma, a Scooby Doo origin film. The Wrap mentions that her documentary Vern is part of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. Trinidad has served as the head of story for Ralph Breaks the Internet and the co-head of story for Zootopia. Her other works incliude Wreck-It Ralph and The Princess and the Frog. Smith is the story director of Frozen’s upcoming sequel, which will release in cinmeas in November, this year. He has also been the supervising animator for Treasure Planet, worked in the story department for Tangled and Frozen, and was Zootopia’s story lead.