Fresh off of a Peabody Award win for her animated series “City of Ghosts,” animator Elizabeth Ito discusses “Mall Stories” — an animated documentary short about the real people working at a shopping center food court. It’s a snapshot of the immigrant experience and chronicles the demands of running a restaurant. Ito says that the shutdown gave her time to reflect on her experience and working at the Cartoon Network, where she would frequent Mongolian Grill at the Burbank Town Center.
Attila the Grilla, the food court restaurant featured in Elizabeth Ito’s “Mall Stories,” is based on the Mongolian Grill in a Burbank mall. Photo courtesy of Chromosphere.