Happy? Sad? Full of...? Sony film gives life to emojis

Los Angeles : If emojis were alive, their job would not be easy: called on at all hours to show up on screen happy-faced, with heart-shaped eyes, as mini-pizzas or ... piles of poop. They form the indispensable background to our digital lives.

It is almost impossible to imagine a text message without emojis. These thousands of symbols establish the tone to our communications: happy, sad, annoyed, frustrated, ironic. New York's Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) last year recognized their importance, adding them to its collections.

Filmmaker Tony Leondis could not resist the temptation: He has designed a world in which these fantasy figures exist. His "The Emoji Movie," a Sony animation, reaches US theaters in July.

"I want to know what the story is behind the phone" where emojis dwell, he told reporters at a round-table discussion attended by AFP. "What is that world? And build from there." 

And so was born the city of "Textopolis," located deep in the smartphone of 15-year-old Alex. There, all life revolves around a unique industry: making emojis.

Imagine a vast control room, its walls covered with tiny cubicles, each containing one of the fun figures, just waiting for young Alex to employ them in a text.