EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A group of seven artists -- all of them from Ciudad Juarez -- are trying to create an animated feature-length film that depicts the everyday life in our sister city. Images courtesy of Adrian Reyes “I want to show with the characters that while (Juarez) is not the best place in the world, it's also not the worst. It’s somewhere in between. You can have a pretty good life or a really bad life. I want the characters that live in the bad places of the city to still try to find meaning in their lives and make something better with the place around them,” said Adrian Reyes, the creator and director of the film.  “I hope that when (people) see the characters going to work, or going to some place, some restaurant, some part, they say, ‘Oh, I do that.’ So (the movie) is made of characters with a lot of things that I think people from Ciudad Juarez will recognize as their own.”  The working title for the film is "Juarez Animado," and the film crew was able to create a working teaser trailer of the film. You can watch it by clicking here.  Reyes said the film is a mixed-media animation, combining the art of hand-painted backgrounds which make up the overall scenery of each shot, with digitally-created characters and moving elements by 3D artists that push the movie forward. Reyes said they drew inspiration from the works of Studio Ghibli, the renowned Japanese animation studio whose films have garnered critical acclaim and won prestigious awards such as the Oscars.  The current crew is composed of the director, two painters, two 3D animators, an effects specialist and a musician.  “(The film) captures the essence of Juarez and its everyday life. We’ve all eaten burritos. We have all driven by the cathedral. We know what Juarez is. And what Adrian (Reyes) is trying to convey is the side of Juarez that we’re not familiar with, or the one that we see daily but we do not notice,” said Laura Meneses, a painter for the film.  “One of the key characteristics of the film is that we never tried to romanticize the images of the city. We tried to depict it as real as possible, what we live. What all other Juarenzes live daily, like the potholes, the graffiti, the cathedral,”  said Eliana Esquivel, a painter for the film.  The film is still in its pre-production stage and Reyes said the teaser trailer they created helped them prepare with the hope that they eventually enter into production.  Reyes estimates it would take approximately four more years to complete the film, and calculates that the crew would have to expand to at least 50 artists in order to finish it.  Reyes said finishing the film is still a distant goal as they have to gather the support and funding to complete it. They’re aiming to complete the script of the film by the end of this year and hope to enter production in 2026. Reyes also said they will eventually launch a Kickstarter campaign to gather more support.  For now, Reyes said people interested in supporting the project can contact him directly at any of his social media pages:  Instagram: @areyesartista Facebook: Adrian Reyes Pulido TikTok: @areyesartista