[Product Image]                                                                                                                          

John and Michael pays homage to two men with Down’s syndrome who shared an intimate and profoundly loving relationship that deeply affected the filmmaker. Animated with clay backlit on glass, the film shimmers like stained glass in motion. Narrator Brian Davis, also mentally challenged, brings the men alive with great sensitivity, allowing the audience to share in the various emotions that infuse their everyday living.
Title John and Michael
Director Shira Avni
Origin Canada
Year 2004
Length 11 minutes
Genre Short - Animation
Website  John & Michael

Crew  

Director Shira Avni
Producers Shira Avni
  Michael Fukushima
Executive Producer David Verrall
As Told By Brian Davis
Composer Daniel Littleton

Director's Bio - Shira Avni

Born in Petakh Tikvah, Israel, in 1974, Shira Avni was raised in Montreal. She graduated with a BFA in Cinema/Animation from Concordia University in 1998 and received her MFA in Film/Video/New Media from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003. Her student work earned her multiple awards, including Best Animated Video at the Montreal World Film Festival's student competition for her first film, 48 Second Blues (1997), as well as the Dean’s award and Cinema Prize for Blood and Earth (1997) and The Bath (1998).

Shira joined the NFB animation studio in 1997 with her first professional film, From Far Away, part of the Talespinners collection. From Far Away has screened in over thirty festivals worldwide and has won several prizes, including the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Children’s Production at the Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival. 

Shira returned to Montreal to pursue her filmmaking and teaching career in 2003. She is currently a part-time faculty member at Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema and has taught numerous animation workshops in Montreal, Chicago and Seoul. Her latest project, John and Michael, is a short animated film about the loving relationship between two men with Down’s syndrome. The film is animated using the slow and painstaking technique of clay on glass, backlit to create the luminous effect of stained glass in motion. John and Michael was completed in 2004, in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada.

 

Send mail to Webmaster@outflixfestival.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2005 OutFlix Festival
Last modified: 11/19/07