It took Spanish filmmaker David Baute over 10 years to craft his latest feature, Black Butterflies (Mariposas Negras), and the reception so far has been worth every minute of hard work.
The Canary Islands native has long considered himself a documentarian after working on the likes of The Children of the Cloud (2000), La Murga (2014) and Milagros (2017). You might be forgiven for thinking the latest in that impressive portfolio is a departure from his non-fiction background. It’s anything but: In 2D animation Black Butterflies, our three central characters are all based on real-life women.
From producer Edmon Roch’s Ikiru Films and based on a screenplay by Yaiza Berrocal, the 120-minute movie follows Tanit, Valeria and Shaila, three women from very different parts of the world who face the same problem: climate change. Tanit reckons with the breakdown of her Kenyan tribe through war over water drought and Valeria is forced to leave her husband in Saint Martin after a hurricane destroys their family home. Shaila, meanwhile, is made to move to Dubai to raise money after rising sea levels destroy the rice fields in Ghoramara, India, and is subsequently sexually assaulted by her employer.
“Once we were starting to live in these communities, we realized that the people who have the power to change things — and also assuming all these [responsibilities] — are women,” says Baute of his research into the film. “Women have to fight hurricanes, tornadoes, draught, the level of the sea rising. [These are] women who, sometimes, have to protect their children, but also that have to protect elderly people as well. So we decided [to follow] these women in three different scenarios and to stay with them in this journey through the terror, the uncertainty, the sometimes tragic ends.”
Their stories are beautifully illustrated, evoking a water color-quality that immediately feels transcendental. The color palette ranges from the ochre and pastel tones of Africa to the turquoise of the Caribbean and the vivid colours of India, adding soul and emotion to the narrative by interweaving the characters’ cultures, religious beliefs and tradition. It’s all topped off with an original song by Grammy-winner Rubén Blades (“Imigrantes”), who Baute admits has been something of a “godfather” in getting the film to wider audiences.
Baute and Roch’s intention? To spotlight the human faces behind climate change and climate migration. “The climate migrant is the only form of all those people migrating that is not currently recognized by the law,” says the Black Butterflies director. “They have to fly from their country to another place, but they are not protected by anyone. This is something that has to be known because many, many, many people don’t know about it.”
The two are admittedly beaming about the film’s reception so far. After a raucous response in Annecy, the movie’s gone on to nab a host of Spanish and Latin American prizes, including a Gaudí and a Goya in Spain, the Platino for best Latin animated film of the year, and the Quirino, another Latin prize, for best film.
It was a small indie success in Spain, where it had an impressive three-month theatrical release, but now, Black Butterflies is to take flight in the U.S. “The countries that have the means to protect themselves against climate change sometimes don’t care that it’s affecting other places and other countries,” says Baute. Roch adds: “If we could reach audiences in places like the U.S., it would be really fantastic for us.”
Below, the director and his producer talk to The Hollywood Reporter about the women and communities behind Black Butterflies. They explain coaxing Blades on board, getting the attention of the United Nations, and why they’re urging Academy members to hit play on their film: “Environmental and migration [issues] are the big subject of our time. And cinema is the most useful tool in order to explore them.”
David, you consider yourself a documentary filmmaker. Why this pivot into animation?
DAVID BAUTE I’ve always been a documentary filmmaker, but in this case, when we started this project, I just realized that this was different. We had to follow these stories of three different people for a long time after finding them, because of the effects of climate change on their lives. When we saw that we couldn’t be there, [making a documentary], for a long time, we thought that we could follow their lives but do it in a different way. This is when animation came in as a way of narrating.
The second element that moved us to use animation was to get to broader audiences, because sometimes documentary filmmaking is [for] a niche audience. We wanted to reach the widest possible audience. And even if this is not a traditional 3D, CGI animation, it is an artistic animation. We thought that doing it this way would reach a wider audience, and this has been the case at film festivals and programming the film. The animation has helped us.
(L-R), Edmon Roch, David Baute, Marc Sabé pose after winning the Best Animated Film Award for ‘Black Butterflies’ at the 39th Goya Awards in 2025.
Courtesy of Getty
Why do you think that the animation has helped grab audiences?
BAUTE Animation escapes the documentary field a little — especially related to films like this, to social and political subjects that [normally appeal] to specialized audiences. But when you do an animation, you just try to embrace through the art, through the way you’re telling the story, and so you reach a much wider audience. Young people are more used to seeing animation than documentaries, and we have been able to reach audiences from 11 years old through schools and institutes that have had the access to see the film. If it had been a documentary, they wouldn’t have seen it. So [with animation], we’ve been able to access them.
It’s wonderful. And obviously to be received so well at film festivals is something that can be a big push for small budget films like Black Butterflies.
EDMON ROCH The fact that we’ve been [to film festivals] is amazing, because we started as an animation film in Annecy, the most specialized European film festival. Then we went to IDFA, the festival for documentaries in Amsterdam. We’ve been to Class A film festivals all over the world, like IFFI Goa, where it was touching something very related to the reality in India, but also Mar del Plata [in Argentina] — both general film festivals, but also documentary film festivals and animation film festivals. So we’re reaching three things and many people told us that we’re in a similar scenario as [2022 Academy Award nominee] Flee, the animation film that was also considered a documentary and foreign language film. We’re getting this mixture of elements that has enabled us to reach [a lot of people].
And these three women, they were real women that you followed through their displacement?
BAUTE The first approach was not to find these three women, but just to reach the communities where these things were happening because of climate change. For many years, we did some research and investigations related to what were the effects of climate change in some of the lesser-known communities around the world.
However, once we were starting to live in these communities, we realized that the people who have the power to change things — and also assuming all these [responsibilities] — are women. Women have to fight hurricanes, tornadoes, draught, the level of the sea rising. [These are] women who, sometimes, have to protect their children, but also that have to protect elderly people as well. So we decided [to follow] these women in three different scenarios and to stay with them in this journey through the terror, the uncertainty, the sometimes tragic ends. Because it’s not only talking about migration, but putting our own lives in danger. And this is affecting thousands of people all over the world. Now, we’re discussing the menace for peace and security, [like] drugs and other [issues] and their effect on our communities, but we should never forget what happens because of climate change.
It’s giving the crisis a real, human face. And at the same time, Black Butterflies beautifully honors tradition, culture, and religion. The animation was so striking — and I want to ask a bit about the animation style and decisions you made in a world full of fear around AI. Why is it important to not only cover these topics, but infuse so much humanity into the art?
BAUTE We didn’t have a big budget, so we had to be sustainable in ourselves and also friendly with our ecosystem. So we actually used a tool, [Animation & Rigging software] Blender, which is an open source tool that we used to make the film. Sometimes we had to teach the animators in these tools, because not all of them were familiar. We started doing that because it really is an independent film. It had a budget of around €2 million ($2.3m), which is really little compared to the big production budgets. But we had to make it possible. We had a lot of information — real information — not only the images that we had been documenting for so many years, but also the sounds of all these places, of all these people that we had recorded. So we had many years just recording the veracity and the truth of this story, and then we wanted the animators to capture this reality.
The way that we use the artistic means and the technical means, it was to help to explain these stories. They’re very dramatic stories, not only about the people, but as you say, their cultures that are disappearing and that have no other way of resisting [climate change]… I believe that this is one of the big [problems] that we have nowadays, in our world, and we’re in a living a key moment where we have to decide: What do want to do? Do we want to protect the world and be responsible for other people and the way we’ve contaminated [the earth], [do we want] to create changes in the climate? This is something that we all have to be aware of right now, and that’s why we’re telling these stories.
There’s an irony with climate change at the moment where those countries and communities suffering the worst of it are not, currently, the ones with the resources to rebuild and address what’s happening. But you’re getting this film to Europe, the U.S., places that can help make that sense of urgency resonate. You’ve already won a Goya, and other awards too. Is the goal to get the film to the U.S. and what’s the benefit of that?
BAUTE Indeed, the goal is to have the film be seen by a wider audience and that’s why we made it. As you say, it’d be great just to reach these countries. The countries that have the means to protect themselves against climate change sometimes don’t care that it’s affecting other places and other countries. It’s important that people can understand this, because if people can understand it, maybe governments will understand it later. It’s also important for us to say that the climate migrant is the only form of all those people migrating that is not currently recognized by the law. They have to fly from their country to another place, but they are not protected by anyone. This is something that has to be known because many, many, many people don’t know about it.
We’re happy that the film reached the ACNOR [a Spanish acronym for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] in New York — they introduced our screening when we were in Manhattan premiering the film. This was important, reaching these places where they have the option and possibilities to make change possible. There’s something really tragic happening now where interest in these [countries] is growing in other directions, that they’re not climate change [focused] but more interested in getting more fossil fuel, oil from the earth, because the economical impact seems to be bigger. But actually, maybe if they watch our film, they will see that it would be wiser to protect our world.
ROCH I would like to add, as a producer, you’re always thinking of the impact that your film will have. You always think about audience and audience numbers [and how it helps] getting big contracts and getting a lot of money. And I have produced other 3D CGI [films] that have been the most successful Spanish animated films ever.
This is not the case with Black Butterflies, but for us it’s very important not to make any money. Our intention was just to make the film, in a small group, but to reach a wider audience. We make films for people to see it, to watch it. And in this case, as we said before, because we think that this is an important subject that we’re dealing with, it’s a story. It’s the story of these three women. We want to entertain people and see the drama of their lives. And we think it’s a subject that’s worth it. It has to be told and people should be aware of this. That’s the idea of Black Butterflies. So, answering your question, if we could reach audiences in places like the U.S., it would be really fantastic for us.
‘Black Butterflies’
Ikiru Films
Has it had a theatrical release in Spain?
ROCH Yeah, yeah. We got a theatrical release in Spain which was actually really good. After that is when we won the Goya. But we also won also the Gaudí in Spain, the Platino for best Latin animated film of the year, the Quirino, which is another Latin prize, for best film. So we won these prizes just before getting to the States. In the States, we released the film in Los Angeles this December. Rubén Blades, who wrote and composed the original track of the film, was there with David just to introduce the film to the Los Angeles audience.
We’ve been reaching through the Spanish government and through museums — maybe not commercial screenings, apart from the release in L.A. — but we have been reaching different audiences [in the U.S.] as well. But the idea is just to get it as wide as possible. And the theatrical release in Spain was very successful. We were in theaters in Spain, in Madrid, Barcelona and many different places, for over three [straight] months — which is not common for commercial cinemas. So it was a small indie success here. Pink Parrot [Media] are handling the sales for the film internationally, and we’d love to have the film in as many places as possible around the world.
Rubén’s song was wonderful. I know you’ve mentioned he was a hard man to track down, so how did his involvement come about?
BAUTE It was really lucky for us just to get Rubén. Since I was very little, I’ve been familiar with his music because in the Canary Islands, they have a big culture of Latin American composers, and Rubén is one of the biggest. Also, I felt that Rubén had a message and identity and concern for very similar subjects as the ones that we’re dealing with in the film, related to the social elements of the world and the dignity of the planet. It had been a very complex thing to reach him. [Laughs.] We didn’t know how to do it at first, but then through the manager and through our Panama co-producer, we were able to reach him.
The idea was, first, just for him to see the film — or the film in process, because it wasn’t finished when we sent it to him — and to see if it clicked something in him, and if he wanted to be part of it. Because we didn’t have a big budget, we couldn’t just convince him with money, but we could convince him with something that we thought would be dearly related to him. So that’s what we did. It took some time, because he’s always very busy, but we were having some positive [conversations]. The song wasn’t reaching us, so there was a moment that we were a little nervous if we would get that in time. [Laughs.] But we spoke to him and he said, “Yes, I’m committed to doing this song for you. You will have the song in time.” He managed to do what we wanted — for him to fall in love with the project — and now it’s been a big help for us, because his name is acting as a godfather for us when we are, for instance, opening the film theatrically in Los Angeles. He’s with us there, he’s a big name — we are not — and that helps us to reach the people that we want to reach. So it’s been really great for us.
That star power can be impactful. Going forward, both of you, would the plan be to stay in this space of making stories about climate change — and using animation?
ROCH I do stories that I think are worth being told and actually, in animation, I have done 3D CGI — the series of Tadeo Jones, which are actually an acquisition of Paramount. So Paramount has the rights for our films, not only Spain, but all over the world. We did the same with another film called Capture the Flag (2015). These are the animation films I’ve done. And actually, the first film that I’ve done in 2D because of the specifics of the story that we’re telling has been Black Butterflies with David. And it’s the first time I encountered this [software]. When David approached me eight [or] nine years ago, telling me this story, I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know that, actually, climate change was the main cause for migration in the world. I wasn’t aware of that. I wasn’t aware that if you are migrating because of climate change, you have no protection whatsoever anywhere in the world, because this is not a recognized [reason].
And when he was telling me these stories and what he had been documenting for so many years — traveling to different places with these very interesting communities and people — is [also] when he told me that he wanted to the film in animation. I said, “Well, we have to do that together.” The fact is I’m open to all the stories that David has. He has the most wonderful stories because they come from reality.
BAUTE I’m from the Canary Islands, as I said, and actually this is the land of migration. My grandfathers, uncles, some of them [came from] Cuba and Venezuela. This element of migration, but also the element of environment, it’s very present in the life of the Canary Islands, because they have to live with tourism and natural resources and see how it’s changing year by year. For almost 20 years now, I’ve been director of the oldest environmental festival in Spain that takes place in my village, in Garachico in Tenerife, [the Canary Islands International Environmental Film Festival] and that’s why I’ve been dealing with these subjects in my films as a documentary maker, but also in shorts, animation, long features. It’s always environmental and migration elements and this is the big subject of our time. And cinema is the most useful tool in order to explore and expand them. Otherwise, sometimes [these stories] are not being told. This is important. That’s why it was so good that we reached ACNOR with Black Butterflies, to discuss climate change and what’s happening.
Because sometimes, even if some governments put effort in, there are others that don’t at all. For instance, in the States, [climate change] is not something that’s been well-received by the current government. [They haven’t] discussed or recognized, actually, that there is climate change and global warming, and I believe governments should be judged. Because what they’re doing with their environment is the same as crimes against humanity. We’re just doing crimes against our environment. This is something that shouldn’t just go without any guilt or any punishment. It is something we should all be responsible for. That’s why I’m very pleased dealing with these subjects and carrying on with different stories about this.
ROCH To get any sign or nomination in the States [for Black Butterflies] for us, is unbelievable, because this would mean that we’d be reaching more people, which is why David, 12, 13, 14 years ago, started this journey. There are artists that handmade [this film], a very artisan job with this open source, Blender, in order to tell these stories. [The animation] is different in the way we treat Africa, India and the Caribbean, in colors, in style, in the big catastrophes at the end with the hurricane and rise of the sea and the war in Africa because of water drought. If we’re able to get to as many people as possible, we’ll be very glad. Any Academy member can go on the web and watch the film. This is already a big victory for us because we made the film to be seen and we’re very happy with the recognition and the awards we’ve had all these last months. Now we’ll keep fighting.
