Few knew that Walt Disney had an appreciation for the eccentric, and it’s this appreciation that led to a collaboration (and later friendship) between him and the world renown surrealist Salvador Dali.
Shortly after World War II Dali and Disney brought together their varied talents and imaginations to work on an animation project called “Destino“. The Animated short is inspired by and based on a Mexican folk song, the same song that accompanies the short. The short weaves a narrative that follows the love story between Chronos and the love that he has for a mortal woman named Dahlia.Unfortunately, the project never saw the light of day and was canceled after only three months of production.
The project was finally finished in 2003 when Roy, Walt Disney’s nephew, hired French director Dominique Monfery to finish the project that was started so many years ago. With the help of computers, Monfrey was able to complete the abandoned project, that consisted of only a 15-second demo. John Hench, one of the original animators assigned to the project, was also integral in helping realize both Walt Disney and Salvador Dali’s visions.
The end result is an animated short has the same haunting surreal feeling that Salvador Dali’s paintings have but with the fluid and beautiful animation that has made Disney so famous.
