Nayelli Ojeda

Nayelli Ojeda is a Mexican filmmaker, animation director, and stop-motion artist whose work in Yugen explores materiality and memory, with a particular interest in Latin American identity and cultural symbolism. Yugen brings these themes together through Mexican ceramics, nature, replacement animation, and organic handcrafted puppetry. Trained in animation in Mexico, she developed her practice around stop-motion and material-based filmmaking, combining traditional craftsmanship with contemporary animation techniques. Her trajectory has been recognized internationally through her selection as an Animation Director for Talents Guadalajara (Berlinale Talents) and as a pitching finalist at ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum in Poland. She is the founder of Wisdom House Films, an independent Mexican animation studio dedicated to handcrafted cinema and experimental storytelling, with a philosophy of pushing the boundaries of animation and challenging its conventions by exploring what is often considered impossible, unconventional, or not meant to be done. With support from Mexico’s Mexican Institute of Cinematography (IMCINE), she directed and produced the stop-motion short film Yugen, an eight-year project that brings together ceramics, replacement animation, and handcrafted puppetry to explore the fragility of life, family, and roots.