We are moving stories

“I would like this film to open up dialogue on the relationship between poetry and animation, and in particular about Australian poetry and animation. I think animation can be utilised as a vehicle to bring poetry to greater mainstream attention, and that poetry can inspire fantastic works of animation; both art forms can mutually benefit, and both deserve more recognition.”

“The overarching theme of ‘Seine’s Breath’ is influence. It is about life after death in the form of your impact on the world, and how your presence on the earth influences everything you come into contact with, whether you know it or not. This is a strong personal belief of mine, and I wanted to explore it though animation while telling a fascinating true story. ”

““Dacryphilia” is the word used to describe sexual arousal caused by the act of crying, or tears. On the surface the film is about a couple with a fetish for tears. However, the fetish just serves as an analogy for a relationship falling apart.

It is also a striking title that is to the point.”

“This is a story about a young girl finding her voice and recognising her self worth. We think this is a universal story that will resonate with a lot of people. But it is intended for a kindergarten to young primary school age audience. It could be a helpful tool for parents and teachers to discuss with young kids that struggle with being shy.”

“I am very much aware of what is happening around me and around the world & globe, so I try to give my contribution through animation art, about what I think is important themes. My films are very personal & abstract & universal at the same time... I hope. :)”

“You’ll see two girls at the onset of puberty depicted in a very physical, non-sugar coated way. The film is made with a lot of love for these two characters and for the art of animation film. ”

“When I first started working on the film I had no idea what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was about. Part of the reason we made the film is to educate and start the conversation, I would want the audience to empathize with and learn more about the world when seeing it.”

“Thematically, I think The Itching is about friendship, intimacy, the desire for and difficulty of connection, vulnerability, anxiety, isolation, loneliness, paranoia, the mind/body connection, parasites, and a love of beer.

A shy, lonely wolf wants to make friends with a group of hip, social bunnies but finds it nerve-wracking… I think we can all relate to that basic set up.”

“When I began to write and sketch for this animated film, I wanted to express the withdrawal-like symptoms of having a broken heart. It’s basically about the looping sensation of not being able to stop obsessing about someone. Milk gone sour was my metaphors of choice.”

“Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

To laugh and be more compassionate with your neighbor.”

“I think it’s just a quirky, lighthearted film you might get a chuckle out of. The biggest goal and victory would be for someone to take away from this film the entire idea of something so simple being turned into a crucible of a task.”

“I think Get Up, Pierrot asks, what is possible within the animation medium, what are some preconceived ideas we have about how to create/design an animation?”

“I lived a lime green existence. Perhaps the colour lime green is cool now but it wasn’t when I was growing up. Working and living at the back of a family owed corner shop, I watched my quirky Chinese mother, along with her lime green corner shop, become iconic figures in the (Surry Hills) community... Immigration is a hot topic in the global media currently, and often carrying negative connotations. Being the daughter of a migrant I’ve seen the evolution and impact of migrants of a generation past. Hence, I felt compelled to give insight on how these new arrivals had significantly shaped and enriched the multicultural Australia we have today.”

“The film is structured by my questions and interview with my parents about Jesa which is a Korean traditional ceremony for ancestors. You might expect this is a serious film that deals with beautiful Asian tradition or heavy-handed statements on the patriarchy, but the answer for both is no. Like most of the family, conversion with parents always goes crazy, chaotic and stressful. It would be fun, weird and confused.”

“I’ve been told my film is like a roller-coaster ride; you will feel the chaos that the characters are living and you want to re-watch it as soon as it’s done to catch the details you may have missed. That’s a pretty cool thing to say; I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ll take it.”

“After years of volunteering as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) I was shocked by how little say foster youth had in their own lives. I wanted to give them an outlet to share their stories and be heard using the tools that I knew best, film and animation. With the help of foster care alumni and a team of industry professionals I created this film to give foster youth the confidence and skills to become a voice for the voiceless.”

“I decided to make a film about the psychological violence of parental alienation since I unfortunately had to experience it myself. Without going into details of my personal life, I will say that I decided to create a fictional film about this terrible situation because I wanted to raise awareness about this issue. It’s such a sad situation when a child is torn between his parents; brainwashed into believing one of the parental figure is a bad.”

“I like to imagine what happens behind closed doors. By peeking inside the homes of these characters, we see that secrets are universal, whether they’re sexy, sweet, harmless or straight-up murderous.”

“It’s a very personal film, in that I wrote it primarily as a letter to my daughter, as well as to my own inner child. But it also resonates with universal experiences, such as being a parent, feeling like you don’t belong, and our ambivalent relationship with nature.”

“I spent over 1,000 hours just coloring this film alone. Every frame required an exceeding amount of thought to work correctly: I needed to stay consistent not just in color, but in form, lighting, movement, and texture. My hope is that the style adds a certain life (and also a certain pain!) to the story and engages the audience on a visceral level.”

“Egg is a film about a small moment of my own life, a moment of shame and yet of victory, the moment I had to eat an egg. It is personal, very intimate, but symbolic as well. You can see in the egg whatever you feel like. ”

“I’m constantly surprised by audience reactions - I think because it’s language-free it allows people to read it in different ways, so I’m finding audiences laughing at different things each screening. The biggest surprise has been children’s reactions to the film - kids have sent me their own drawings of the characters, or photos of them dressed up as the squirrels. The film is quite dark in places, so I never really considered it as a children’s film!”

“Watching Frontier Wisdom is like visiting a fever dream I had while trying to make sense of some crucial changes in my life. It is inspired by loss, longing, bad interpretations of biblical passages, daydreams I had when I was a kid about my dad’s job driving a truck around for Pac Bell, the Mojave desert, David Berman’s poetry, metaphors for a breakdown of communication between generations, and the rapture. Maybe it’ll all feel very alien or maybe it’ll feel familiar. Either way, it’s short.”

“I believe the greatest empathy is felt for a movie when it depicts a weakness at the core of our deepest self. Something that makes us struggle. Something we cannot escape and we have experienced before. Like the bystander effect. ”

“It’s a challenging film. If you like to challenge yourself and your expectations, if you enjoy a dose of colorfulness, surrealism, strangeness, and dark humor then you should definitely watch it. ”

“Sometimes you don’t take the trip; the trip takes you.”

“I am quite put off by the spa experience, and wanted to visualize the absurdity I see in the spa ritual. The film is essentially a walkthrough of my version of a spa, featuring acts of grotesque relaxation.”

“The character, the girl with the curly hair, is based on me. In order to develop this film, I spoke to a few teachers and children of the age of the character in the film to get some ideas on what she might be feeling and thinking (I don’t really have much memory of being that age!).”

“Since the launch of our campaign, I’ve heard from women all over the world who are so excited about this film because they no one else is talking about sexual dysfunction. For those of us who struggle with it, it’s extremely isolating. Sex is everywhere, and the media makes it seem easy, fast, and fun, but that’s not everyone’s reality. I think that Tightly Wound is already making people feel less alone. ”

“Some of the audience members gave me stories of ridiculous rumours they had believed after watching it, which I found very interesting and gained a lot of inspiration from.”

“Overall, no matter how successful, happy and accomplished we are (or seem) I learned that life is ebbs and flows. I used to fall hard when the ebbs came and think life was really bad. But, within this film, I challenged myself to embrace those valleys as part of the journey.”