Sea Change Animated Women: Participants revealed for Screen Argyll’s animated feature residency
Skwigly
The six participants for Screen Argyll’s first ever Sea Change Animated Women residency have been revealed.
Renowned Scottish animator and illustrator Rachel Bevan Baker and award-winning writer, filmmaker and teacher Anna Zaluczkowska selected the shortlist from 32 applications.
Flipside (Ana Stefaniak)
Powering a more inclusive future for UK cinema, this dedicated residency provides women and marginalised gendered animators with the space, support and resources to scale their ideas for animated features from concept to screen. Sea Change Animated Women is delivered by Screen Argyll and supported by the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund, awarding National Lottery Good Cause funding.
Those taking part in the upcoming residency and the projects they will be developing are:
- Sarah Beeby (working with Louisa Wood) with Salty Fangs, the new film from the writer-director team behind the multi-award-winning animated short Gardening. When Unity Shoals’ most obedient mermaid helpfully posts a revolutionary manifesto, she gets into a LOT of trouble and falls in with the washed-up rebel who wrote it.
- Northern Ireland-based writer, director and animator Solène Guichard with Sunny Is Dead. When Sunny dies, she discovers the hard way that love can be forever.
- Lauren Orme – a Welsh writer and director specialising in 2D and mixed-media animation – with Swimming Lessons. Learning to become a mother while losing her own parent, a woman haunted by visions of drowning must learn to stay afloat.
- Graphic novelist and animator Sydney Padua – who most recently worked as a lead animator on Mufasa: The Lion King– with Lerhu. When floods destroy her island home at the end of the Ice Age, a young girl must learn to survive in the dense forests of ancient Britain.
- Honor Price, a BAFTA-nominated, London-based animation director known for her distinctive stop motion style, with Unhealthy Relationships. After his date abandons him and the feast he cooked for her, food-obsessed Harry creates his perfect woman from the contents of his fridge. The Lady in the Fridge becomes his perfect soulmate, but when a real lover comes along, Harry’s appetites, and his edible companion, spiral into a deliciously grotesque and manipulative love triangle.
- Animator and producer Ana Stefaniak, who has spent the last few years returning to her passion of narrative animation and storytelling following a commercial career, with Flipside. When flames devour everything and everyone Orphee knows and loves, the only way forward seems to be to move in with her estranged aunt and make friends with a ghost or two.
Swimming Lessons (Lauren Orme)
Sea Change Animated Women is delivered by Screen Argyll, who are based on the Hebridean island of Tiree, and supported by the BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund, awarding National Lottery Good Cause funding.
The programme will take place over seven months through a mix of online group and one-to-one mentoring sessions, enhanced by a core seven-day residential development lab embedded alongside Screen Argyll’s annual Sea Change Film Festival on Tiree this September. The residency will culminate in a project showcase at the 2027 MOVE Summit, Scotland’s animation gathering.
Jen Skinner, Director, Sea Change Festival, said:
We were thrilled by the shortlist, which reflects the breadth and ambition of animation talent across the UK. It’s exciting to support such distinctive voices as they develop feature-length work, we are looking forward to supporting them on their journey and can’t wait to see the results.
Mia Bays, Director of the BFI Filmmaking Fund, said:
Screen Argyll has built a strong reputation for nurturing creative talent on the remote island of Tiree. We are delighted to support Sea Change Animated Women, which extends this work by creating a dedicated pathway for women and marginalised gendered creatives developing animated feature films. As one of the first BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge Fund programmes focused on animation features, it offers vital early-development support, and we look forward to seeing the impact of the programme and the projects it helps bring to life.
Unhealthy Relationships (Honor Price)