Jesu Medina’s short film, selected for the Canadian Student Animation program, is an abstract narrative thriller that follows a desperate mother who falls victim to a series of cruel encounters with the Muse, the Angel, and the Demon; fest runs September 24-28.
JALI Research celebrates the inclusion of Jesu Medina’s short among the short animated films to be featured at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF).The film, which makes use of JALI’s cutting-edge facial animation technology to achieve expressive characters, marks the first official on-screen film credit for the developers of the software.
It will screen Sunday, September 28 at the Ottawa Art Gallery: Alma Duncan Salon as part of the Canadian Student Animation Competition.OIAF runs September 24–28. Medina is a student at Concordia University’s acclaimed Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.
, created as part of his undergraduate thesis, is his first film to integrate JALI software into his production workflow.It completes a short film trilogy that also includes (2023) and (2024).had its world premiere in competition at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival in July.
The short is an abstract narrative thriller which depicts a woman, Carmela, whose fear intensifying, as she struggles to protect her son.Desperate for help, she falls victim to a series of cruel encounters with the Muse, the Angel, and the Demon.“We’re proud to support Jesu’s creative journey in the creation of his beautiful film, ,” said Sarah Watling, JALI CEO and Co-founder.
“It’s inspiring to see animated filmmakers like Jesu push boundaries with the facial animation tools we’ve built at JALI, which have been a trusted animation force multiplier, used by high-end production studios and developers of open-world narrative games worldwide.” Alysha Whyte, JALI Operations and Outreach Manager, also leads the company’s education initiatives.She met Medina at an OIAF 2024 screening event for , where he spoke about the facial animation challenges he faced in his earlier projects, and how the visual style of , which prominently featured JALI software, inspired his work.“It’s such a privilege to support students like Jesu as they bring their stories to life,” said Whyte.
“He has a real gift for storytelling, and we were delighted that he brought JALI into his pipeline to simplify the process and help him direct more powerful character performances.” During pre-production, JALI enabled real-time testing of script variations and made version changes simple.In production, JALI’s integration with Unreal Engine and its timeline-based Sequencer interface allowed Medina to craft and control multiple aspects of the film simultaneously, moving from lip sync, brow, and eye motion work to body animations, visual effects, camera movements, lighting, set and sound design, and more.In post-production, Medina was able to fine-tune characters in each scene without re-animating or altering previous work to achieve emotionally rich performances.
“I’m deeply grateful for the support and trust from JALI to bring to life,” said Medina.“The platform’s creative control allowed me to push boundaries, vital to the film’s success.Before using JALI, it could take two months to animate 30 seconds of dialogue.
With JALI handling facial animation in a fraction of the time and providing accurate lip sync, I completed the eight-minute film in 26 weeks.This allowed me to focus on designing the world of the story and accurately bring emotional realism to multiple characters in the universe of the film.”
Journalist, antique shop owner, aspiring gemologist—L'Wren brings a diverse perspective to animation, where every frame reflects her varied passions.
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