Flesh (Carne) is a Brazilian animated documentary directed by Camila Kater in 2019. Flesh follows the story of five women in different phases of life as they speak about their ambiguous relationship with their own bodies, as well as their experiences with societal pressure and society’s perception of them. The stories are formatted in a … Continue reading Flesh (2019)
While the theme ‘violence in animation’ might mostly be associated with indestructible cartoon characters, here I reflect upon the capacity of non-figurative animation to directly assail the senses. Can abstraction be as effective as figurative art in communicating issues of violence? Few female artists work in abstract animation[i]. Could this perhaps be because it is … Continue reading Assailing the Senses: Treatments of Violence in Abstract Animation by Women
Recently I produced and directed a documentary about women working in the animation industry which highlighted the lack of women in key creative roles. The documentary, entitled British Animation Women Breaking the Mold, was broadcast on Sky Showcase Channel 192 on October 13th, 2019. The women interviewed in the documentary were from a range of … Continue reading British Animation Women and the Myth of Meritocracy
Ireland’s geographical position is an important factor to consider when taking into account the animation practices and techniques that were developing in both North America and Europe during the early-twentieth-century. Irish artists and filmmakers traveled widely for education and exhibition of their artworks. The films created by Irish artists were only distributed in Ireland under … Continue reading Neglect and Omission: Irish Animation Archives
In the final months of 1917, Helena Smith Dayton (1883–1960) released a one-reel production of Romeo and Juliet starring a cast of characters crafted entirely out of clay. Though identifiable now as a pioneering work of stop-motion animation, the film’s style was first met in the press with quizzical reactions. A full-page review in Film … Continue reading Helena Smith Dayton: An Early Animation Pioneer Whose Films You Have Never Seen
For anyone interested in equity in gender representation in the film industry, Melissa Silverstein at Indiewire recently posted some depressing infographics regarding the number of both independent[i] and mainstream[ii] motion pictures directed by women. According to the graphics, only 10% of indie films have been directed by women in the past 5 years, and representation … Continue reading New Year’s Resolutions for Inclusivity
Generally speaking animated filmmaking is gendered. Men usually work as directors, key animators, and photographers, while women take less important roles such as inkers and painters—jobs that demand repetitive and tedious manual labor rather than artistic creativity and high technology. Kirsten Thompson has demonstrated that between the 1920s and 1960s, the animation industry in the … Continue reading Socialism and the Rise of the First Camerawoman in History of Chinese Animation