Guillermo del Toro about to release ‘Pinocchio’ on Netflix and with a doctorate

Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has just added an academic degree to his extraordinary film career after being recognized with an honorary doctorate from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Del Toro received the distinction from the Mexican writer Rosa Beltrán at the UNAM facilities in Los Angeles. Together with other personalities that were recognized by the aforementioned university in Mexico City, the director thanked the rector and highlighted the cultural work of the public, free and world-renowned university for his contribution to knowledge.

“The ability to travel in creative spaces that are global is important as a Mexican, but always remember that your roots will never stop being in Mexico,” Del Toro said. “And that is what makes this moving and personal moment, because it comes from a university that has gone hand in hand in the deepest cultural life in Mexico.”

Del Toro was born in Guadalajara in 1964. He studied at the Center for Research and Cinematographic Studies of the University of Guadalajara, where he graduated in 1983 and was also a professor. He worked for years in makeup design before forming his own production company Necropia with which he created his debut feature Cronos (1993).

For this he won nine Ariel awards, the Mexican equivalent of the Oscar. After this film, del Toro emigrated to the United States, where he made films like hellboy, Pacific Rim (Pacific Titans), Crimson Peak (the scarlet summit) and more recently Nightmare Alley (The alley of lost souls).

In 2007 he was nominated for his first Oscar for the screenplay for The Pan’s Labyrinth. The film took the golden statuettes for best art direction, cinematography and makeup.

Ten years later, with The Shape of Water (the shape of water), which recreates the love story of a cleaning worker and an amphibian creature imprisoned in a laboratory, del Toro once again won the Oscars for best direction and best film.

The Sape of Water it also won the prizes for best original music for the work of Alexandre Desplat and best production design.

Next week Del Toro will release his stop-motion animated film in theaters pinocchio (Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro)which will arrive on Netflix on December 9.

The filmmaker has supported young creators through the Animéxico animation and arts scholarships. “I went along the paths that were opening up and that’s what I want to tell the people who come, the young people,” he said. “That path is open, that path is legitimate, and that path that was mine I grant to you.”