The Story of Destino

Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí started talking at a party one night in 1945 at Jack Warner's house (Warner Bros.). Each had respected the others' surrealist work (for Dalí thought of Disney as a surrealist) and decided to create a short film together. Disney had been increasingly interested in collaborations with great artists because he felt, “Like the 'Night on Bald Mountain' sequence Kay Nielson designed for Fantasia, I want to give more big artists such opportunities. We need them. We have to keep breaking new trails.”

Dalí began work in 1946 and created 22 paintings and over 135 storyboards, drawings, and sketches. Dalí thought Destino was, “a magical exposition on the problem of life in the labyrinth of time.” The project got shelved after just eight months due to low funds and the anticipated inability to market Destino after World War II.

While working on the animated feature Fantasia 2000, Roy E. Disney, nephew of Walt, and Vice Chairman of The Walt Disney Company and Director of Animation at the time, decided to complete the overdue Destino project. A team of 25 artists in the Paris-based Disney animation studio worked under the direction of Dominique Monfery to fulfill the Dalí-Disney dream.

Destino completed is 6 minutes, 40 seconds long, set to the dreamy Mexican ballad of the same name by Armando Dominguez (of which Disney owned the rights and recruited Dalí to visualize on film). It was released on June 2, 2003, at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Destino is a harmonious blend of evocative Dalí imagery and flawless Disney animation. Monfery stayed true to the 2-D style of animation used in the '40s and was devoted to carrying out both Dalí's and Disney's vision for the animation short. Destino has received the following:

Awards for Destino

Oscar nomination for Best Short Film, Animated (Academy Awards, 2004); Annie Award Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short (ASIFA-Hollywood, 2004); Winner of Special Citation for Restoration (Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, 2004); Winner of Certificate of Merit (Chicago International Film Festival, 2003); Winner of Grand Prix for Dominique Monfery, Director (Melbourne International Film Festival, 2003); and Winner of Grand Prize for Best Animated Short (Rhode Island International Film Festival, 2003).