Destino

Last week in Florida, we made our way to the new Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. In a word...WOW! That was the highlight of the trip for me because the exhibition, Dali and Film, features many of his paintings and films that I'd only ever read about or seen small images of in art books. The art was pulled from museums such as the Tate Modern, etc. The most amazing thing to see was Destino.



Destino is a short animated cartoon released in 2003 by The Walt Disney Company. Destino is unique in that its production originally began in 1945, 58 years before its original release. The project was a collaboration between American animator Walt Disney and Catalan painter Salvador Dalí, and features music written by Mexican songwriter Armando Dominguez.

Destino was storyboarded by Disney studio artist John Hench and artist Salvador Dalí for eight months in late 1945 and 1946; however, financial concerns caused Disney to cease production. The Walt Disney Company, then Walt Disney Studios, was plagued by many financial woes in the World War II era. Hench compiled a short animation test of about 18 seconds in the hopes of rekindling Disney's interest in the project, but the production was no longer deemed financially viable and put on indefinite hiatus.

In 1999, Walt Disney's nephew Roy Edward Disney, while working on Fantasia 2000, unearthed the dormant project and decided to bring it back to life. Disney Studios France, the company's small Parisian production department, was brought on board to complete the project. The short was produced by Baker Bloodworth and directed by French animator Dominique Monfrey in his first directorial role. A team of approximately 25 animators deciphered Dalí and Hench's cryptic storyboards (with a little help from the journals of Dalí's wife Gala Dalí and guidance from Hench himself), and finished Destino's production. The end result is mostly traditional animation, including Hench's original footage, but it also contains some computer animation.

The finished product was meant to be part of the cancelled film Fantasia 2006 but when the short was completed after the film's cancellation, Destino (as well as three other completed segments) were changed to short subjects.

Destino premiered on June 2, 2003 at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in Annecy, France. The six-minute short follows a female dancer as she dances through surreal scenery inspired by Dalí's paintings. There is little dialogue, but the sound track features a song by the Mexican composer, Armando Dominguez.