Friday 6 February 2015

Exercises in Humility

Jutra (Dir. Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre)
This week on Skwigly I have an interview with Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre, a kindred spirit in the sense that she makes animation documentaries, albeit with more of a creative spin. Working with the NFB and notably influenced by Norman McLaren, she's made the multi-award-winning McLaren's Negatives and last year's Jutra among others. She has a brilliant style and interesting process, you can learn more by giving the interview a read here: 
Interview with Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre
Back in the more straightforward world of my mini-documentary series Lightbox, this week we have a special on Aardman's Shaun the Sheep Movie in anticipation of its release on Friday. We went up to Aardman Features in Aztec West where one of the film's lead animators Will Becher gave Steve, Laura-Beth and myself a nice demonstration of their puppets:
I'm quite interested in seeing how the film does compared to their other recent features, especially as this one feels more unabashedly/traditionally Aardman without trying to play to a broader audience.
Elsewhere I've had some disappointing news regarding the planned distribution of my most recent film Bullies. The short version is that interest from a company I'd been holding out for since last summer has been rescinded, so I'm back in limbo for the time being. Bit of a knock but I'm fondly keeping this little cinematic analogy in mind:
Frankly I'd been getting a little spoiled with things coming off without many hitches of late, so in a sense it's good to be brought down to Earth every once in a while. Keeps a fella humble, which is always a hard business given how unbelievably gifted and handsome I am. Plus, sometimes when we feel like we're floating without a paddle...well, new plans emerge. Watch this space.
Finally, just a reminder that I'll be in Cheltenham this Saturday, exhibiting at True Believers. Swing by and peruse my bookey wares, why doncha?

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