Fire Flower
2019
United States
7 mins
NYC Premiere
Animated Film Competition
| Stephan Leeper | |
| Stephan Leeper, Curtis Wood | |
A nun, four orphans and a glitchy robot on a quest for beauty. . . what could possibly go wrong? Princess, Fabio, Pigtails and Curly from St. Mary’s Home for Unfortunate Children are on a fieldtrip to the botanical garden to celebrate Princess’ birthday. On the way they meet a curious groundskeeper and the fireworks begin –– quite literally.
In the autumn of 2014, the Advanced Studio Production class at Huntington University launched the ‘Fire Flower’ film project based on a 1-minute story reel by Kayla Mitchell. The experiment was to see what would happen if a talented group of student animators set out to make a short film with the time, budget, and resources of a commercial stop-motion studio. The results, five years later, is a beautifully crafted (and irreverently funny) 6-minute stop-motion film for all ages to enjoy.
About the Director
Stephan Leeper is a storyteller, animator and educator. He started his career as a Chicago-based Stop-Motion Animator and 3D Layout Supervisor on ‘Jonah: a VeggieTales Movie’ and is the founding professor of two university-level Animation Programs in the Midwest. In 2017, Steve started teaching at Central Michigan University where he continues to produce award-winning animation using stop-motion, pixilation, laser cut-outs and drawn animation. You can see examples of his personal and commercial work at www.jsleeper.com.
Interviews
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