In conjunction with Central St Martins, this film was commissioned by the Education department of the National Gallery in London for its Transcriptions series. The painting transcribed was Edgar Degas' La Coiffure.
The city sleeps as the artist shuffles slowly to the warm red glow of the dingy brothel. Inside, on the top floor, young Odette has her hair combed in preparation for the next sad fool waiting below. The familiar tug of the comb and she's a child again, perched on the lap of her mother, who firmly tugs the tangles out of her coarse, scribbled hair. All stories on earth exist in that hair, her mother would say, and that's why you must comb it, always, so you can be wherever you want to be. She has always believed this, young Odette, and as she plummeted through the misfortune of her short, sorry life to the reality of the brothel, she has combed. And now, as she laments, she climbs onto the window ledge, wondering whether her mother was wrong.
 |
Watch The Girl With Stories In Her Hair online here: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/learning/inspired-by-the-collection/2d-animation/*/chooseMedia/15/ |
CREDITS
Commissoned by the National Gallery
Produced by Central St Martins College of Art
Music by Andres Franco Medina-Mora
Special thanks to Steve Roberts, Birgitta Hosea, Kimmo Moykki, and Terry Wu
SCREENINGS
Clarity, curated by Pendragon Productions, The Hollywood Arms, London
Our Indie Cinema, The Castle, London www.ourindiecinema.com/
Jersey Branchage Film Festival, Jersey, Channel Islands www.branchagefestival.com
Rushes Soho Shorts, ICA/Soho Film Lab, London www.sohoshorts.com
7th London Independent Film Festival, The Roxy Cinema, Borough www.londonindependent.org
Life's Just Networking, curated by Life Just Is Film, Battersea, London www.lifejustisfilm.com
British Animation Awards, National Film Theatre, London www.britishanimationawards.com
British Animation Awards Public Choice, various screenings across the UK www.britishanimationawards.com
Filmstock International Film Festival, The Hat Factory, Luton www.filmstock.co.uk
Bradford Animation Festival, National Media Museum, Bradford www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk
Norwich Film Festival, The Forum, Norwich www.norwichfilmfestival.co.uk
Transcriptions, Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, London www.nationalgallery.org.uk
AWARDS
Nominated for Best Animation at Rushes Soho Shorts 2010
Nominated for Best Film in the Public Choice Category at the British Animation Awards 2010
Nominated for Best Student Film at Bradford Animation Festival, 2009