Mexican animator and illustrator Luis de la Rosa has died in a train incident while attending the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France. He was 34.
The Vancouver-based animator was struck by an express train locomotive on Wednesday evening near a downtown train station, Annecy festival organizers confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday. A police investigation has been opened to determine a cause of death.
News of the fatal incident was first reported in the French newspaper Le Dauphine Libere, which said emergency services attended to de la Rosa near the railroad tracks on Avenue Aristide Briande on Wednesday evening, in an area that was fenced off and closed to the public.
He was wearing festival credentials when emergency services arrived on the scene. Efforts to save de la Rosa’s life were not successful and he was pronounced dead at the scene, the newspaper account reported.
A tribute to the Mexican illustrator and animator will take place at the closing ceremony on Saturday, with Artistic Director Marcel Jean expected to offer remarks and show clips from de la Rosa’s career work.
The animator was in Annecy to present his latest work, Ash Raider World, as part of the festival market, according to an Instagram post.
Born in Mexico in 1991, de la Rosa had been working since 2016 as a 2D animator in Vancouver after graduating from the local Vancouver Film School.
He was employed at local studios like WildBrain Studios, Titmouse, Atomic Cartons and Chaos Emporium. The artist worked in the animation departments for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Carmen Sandiego and My Dad the Bounty Hunter.
He also worked on the animated TV series Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Archibald’s Next Big Thing and Animaniacs.
