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joanimator
IMDb member since May 2004
Joanna Priestley has directed, animated and produced an abstract animated feature, North of Blue, 30 award winning short films and an iOS app. Her work maintains a high level of porosity between serious exploration of boundaries and intuitive whimsy and she is dedicated to experimentation in technique, theme and content. Priestley has had retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Center for Contemporary Art (Warsaw, Poland), American Cinematheque (Los Angeles, CA), Hiroshima Animation Festival (Japan), Jenju International Film Festival (Korea) and Stuttgart Animation Festival (Germany) and she has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute, the MacDowell Colony, Fundación Valparaíso and Creative Capital. Priestley was founding president of ASIFA Northwest and has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1993, where she annually juries the Oscars, Student Academy Awards and Nicholl Screenplay Fellowships. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, director/production designer Paul Harrod, and two cats. More info: www.joannapriestley.com.
“The queen of independent animation!” -Justin Johnson, British Film Institute
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Reviews
Magda (2004)
One of my favorite animated films! Brilliant animation and sound design.
20 February 2007 - 5 out of 5 users found this review helpful.
One of my favorite animated films! Brilliant animation and magnificent sound design combined with elegant, simple puppets and beautiful design. I love the bittersweet narration too. Few animated film have this kind of poignancy and emotion. Chel White is a great filmmaker.
Making a puppet film with wooden artists models was a great idea. There are lots of subtle sound effects that support the movements of the puppets, like the sound of springs stretching, creaking and sproinging that you hear when you twist those wooden models. It gives the film a haunted, eerie quality. The gorgeous production design convincingly delivers the sense of a dark carnival.
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