She Drew That Residency for Female Animators Release Films From New Talents
Following She Drew That’s success over the last year, in July their attention turned to the work they could do on a more individual basis. This led to their first ever Residency scheme – to help create more female directors in the animation industry and to address the notable gender gap evident at this level.
In collaboration with Strange Beast, they held a 4 week remote residency for three female freelance animators wanting to develop their skills as directors, with the end goal that each resident would complete a 15-30 second film based on a loose brief to be showcased on the She Drew That Vimeo page. During the 4 week period, weekly lectures were led by mentors Anna Ginsburg and Hannah Jacobs., while sound was provided by Father.
Additionally, the residents were assisted with building a professional network and developing the skills and confidence to help them to feel more able to make a contribution to the animation industry at directorial level.
We are pleased to showcase the finished films below, and a few words by each director. Keep at eye out for these up and coming talents!
Bianca Beneduci Assad
Her film: The Snog
Synopsis: Cheeky and minimal, the film examines the tensions between self and other in relationships through the experience of a sexy smooch.
For various reasons I’ve always struggled to prioritise my personal work over paid work and that can be a major stumbling block if you want to be a director in our industry. It’s been great to finally be able to dedicate some time to making my own little project. Doing it with the help of Strange Beast and She Drew That has been amazing. The entire team was incredibly generous in sharing their industry hot tips throughout the process. Their encouragement made the emotional rollercoaster that is producing an animated short film a lot smoother. It really makes a difference to have a team of people cheering you on. I’ve learned so much from everyone.
Eva Münnich
Her film: 7B
Synopsis: Little Artist has a block. When her trusty pencil let’s her down all seems hopeless but her amazing future self comes to the rescue!
It was great! The Strange Beast team shared very generous insight into the production process and about working as a director. I loved that our resident group was made up out of three completely different creative minds. The residency made me wonder where I could fit in in the industry and especially in the London scene. I’m very happy that I now have a strong personal piece in my portfolio to show to clients and studios.
Gaïa Lamiot
Her film: Spikes
Synopsis: Spikes is a very short film about the joy of finding ways to unite despite the distance.
The residency was amazing, everybody was so motivated and supportive! It allowed me to experiment with my visual identity, my animation style, and I learned a lot on how to carry an animation project from start to finish. It gave me the confidence to seek more directing jobs and develop my own projects.
Plans for future residency schemes
The first She Drew That residency was a great success, as evidenced by these three brilliant animations. Many female animators applied for the opportunity to develop themselves with the support of the structured programme and feedback of an experienced studio team that promotes opportunities for women in the industry. Because there has been so much interest in this residency, there are plans to run more, as long as there are talented females in the industry seeking opportunities to develop their careers. She Drew That founder, Hannah Lau-Walker, added:
It is so rewarding to create opportunities that genuinely can inspire and develop all those who get involved. In the future, we may even attract funding for this activity until then we will continue to depend on the willingness of studios to get involved.
For more information on She Drew That you can sign up to their newsletter: http://eepurl.com/goYUNT, follow on Instagram @shedrewthat, and watch previous presentations and talks on the She Drew That Vimeo page.