Savannah Film Festival - Squirrel Island
Sci-fi action thriller following Dot, a renegade grey squirrel trapped on a hostile and mysterious red squirrel island. Teaming up with a reluctant acorn, they uncover a horrifying red squirrel plot...can Dot and Mr Acorn survive Squirrel Island?
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Astrid Goldsmith
Watch Squirrel Island on Vimeo
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I started thinking about it in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings, I was living in London and there was a noticeable bubbling up of fear and prejudice in the city. Around this time I visited the Isle of Wight, which is one of the only places in England that you can still see native red squirrels - the islands off the south coast of England carried out a comprehensive cull of the invasive grey squirrel species to preserve the reds.
On the Isle of Wight - where red squirrels are a managed tourist industry in themselves - I saw posters advertising the hotline to call if you see a grey squirrel (presumably so the authorities can trap and kill it), which seemed to me like something out of a dystopian 70s sci-fi movie. I couldn't help but draw parallels with some of the ugly rhetoric about immigration that was swirling around at that time. I wanted to find a way to express my concern about the way government policy impacts on innocent lives as well as the natural world, and explore the choices we make between 'good' and 'bad' animals.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
If you like stop-motion sci-fi action thrillers featuring zombie acorns and cute animals doing evil things... you'll love Squirrel Island!
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The story follows Dot, a lone renegade grey squirrel, who finds herself trapped on a hostile and mysterious red squirrel island. She teams up with a hunted acorn, and together they discover a horrifying red squirrel plot which threatens their future. On a personal level, Squirrel Island is about how to navigate and survive as an outsider, and the power of the individual to facilitate positive change. The wider issues of dealing with the impact of invasive species on an ecosystem are pretty universal - most countries in the world are facing similar dilemmas, and unfortunately there are no easy solutions.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
Before I made anything, I spent three months story boarding shot-for-shot, and I stuck to that very faithfully during production. I was shooting on 16mm film, and I don't have a computer, so apart from checking the telecine files on other people's computers when they came back from the lab, I had no means of editing the film as I went to check it was making sense. So I had to put all my faith in the storyboard! My editor, Ben Mallaby, only came on board in the last month of production, so it was only seven years in that I saw any of the film in sequence for the first time. Ben suggested a couple of additions to clarify some plot points (the film is language-free, so some things were harder to convey), so I did some last-minute additional shots. By that point I was way too close to the film to understand what might be needed, so it was great to have another pair of eyes.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Squirrel Island has been selected by some amazing film festivals, including Warsaw Film Festival, where it was in competition for Best Animation in October. 1960s and 70s Eastern European stop-motion is one of my biggest influences, so it was incredible to have the European premiere in Warsaw. The US premiere was at Portland Film Festival, where it won the award for Achievement in Short Filmmaking. While I was in Portland, I was invited to screen Squirrel Island at LAIKA Studios for their crew at their in-house theatre. It was very nerve-wracking to screen it to a room full of the world's best stop-motion model makers and animators, but it was a dream-like moment of affirmation, to be considered part of the animation community when normally I spend most of my time on my own in a dark room pushing puppets around!
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
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!
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Squirrel Island is my first film, which I made on my own in my garage, using a 1969 analogue Bolex film camera. In terms of digital film promotion, I'm basically a cave-dweller. So the idea that someone could find my film on such a great, intelligent platform is enormously exciting.
Would you like to add anything else?
@SquirrelFilm
@mockduckstudios
www.mockduck.co.uk
www.facebook.com/SquirrelIslandFilm
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
This summer I made a 2-minute stop-motion monster movie about plastic sea pollution for SALT Festival, a festival of the sea and environment. Earlier in the year I animated a cut-out animation for Channel 4's Random Acts strand, which was screened at Encounters Festival. Currently I'm writing my new film, a pagan musical about landfill.
Interview: November 2016
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Squirrel Island
Sci-fi action thriller following Dot, a renegade grey squirrel trapped on a hostile and mysterious red squirrel island. Teaming up with a reluctant acorn, they uncover a horrifying red squirrel plot...can Dot and Mr Acorn survive Squirrel Island?
Length: 21:11
Director: Astrid Goldsmith
Producer: Astrid Goldsmith
Writer: Astrid Goldsmith
About the writer, director and producer:
Astrid Goldsmith is a British animator and model maker specialising in puppet stop motion. After 12 years working as a model maker for films and adverts - making everything from the Duracell Bunny to vibrating slugs for Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - she has finally completed her debut solo film, Squirrel Island.
Key cast:
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): Yes please!
Funders:
Made in association with:
Where can I see it in the next month? Foyle Film Festival 2016 (November 20th 2016), London Short Film Festival 2017 (January 2017)