Ginevra, 2017, 3’42’’, HD video (paper cut-out)

This experimental animation film is based on an unfinished a poem by Percy Shelley, which in turn was based on the Florentine legend of Ginevra degli Almieri. It posits an alternate version of Ginevra who undergoes a resurrection after being murdered by her husband. The poignant funeral dirge, narrated in the film by Ginevra’s mother, also points to Percy Shelley himself, whose own untimely demise at sea at the age of 29 is the reason the poem remained unfinished. The film, carefully crafted from paper, was made in collaboration with producer Max Rothman, who paired together filmmakers and musicians for this project. Ginevra premiered at the Bellevue Arts Museum in WA, USA alongside sets and puppets used in its creation.

Credits:

Director: Tess Martin
Producer: Max Rothman
Composer & Sound Designer: Jeremy Lloyd-Styles
Narrator: Alexana Ryer

Backstory:

This short film is based on a poem called ‘The Dirge’ by Percy Shelley (not to be confused with another Shelley poem called A Dirge). Max Rothman at Monticello Park Productions brought this project to animation filmmaker Tess Martin. Upon further research Tess discovered that The Dirge is actually part of a longer, unfinished poem called Ginevra (read the full poem here).

In the book The Poems of Shelley: Volume Four 1820-1821 by Michael Rossington, Jack Donovan and Kelvin Everest, the authors speculate that the poem might have been inspired by a supposedly true story contained in a book that his wife Mary was reading at the time. The story is that of Ginevra degli Almieri, a Renaissance-era urban legend about a woman who was thought dead of a plague that swept the city of Florence in the year 1400, and was put in a vault to be buried the next day. But she then awakens and is mistaken for a ghost by both her husband and her parents. Unfortunately, Percy Shelley himself died an untimely death in 1822, and was not able to finish this poem. His wife Mary published just the last segment under the title ‘The Dirge’, as well as the rest of the unfinished poem under the title ‘Ginevra’, in 1824 after Percy’s death.

The animated film incorporates inspiration from the Ginevra backstory, as well as direct inspiration from the poem itself. It is created using primarily cream-colored paper cut-outs on a multi-plane animation stand, with lots of lights and colored filters.

Festivals:

Fronteiras, Ayamonte, Spain and Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Portugal, Oct 19-26, 2019
Sister Cities Animated, Baltimore, MD, USA, Feb 11, 2019
Festival of Time, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, January 4-6, 2019 - WINNER, Best Production Design
Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival, Worcester, MA, USA, Oct 20, 2018 - FINALIST, Best Animation & Best Overall Production
Ellensburg Film Festival, Ellensburg, WA, Oct 6-8, 2018
ANIMANIMA, Cacak, Serbia, Sept 4-8, 2018
Walla Walla Movie Crush, Walla Walla, WA, July 6-8, 2018
Snake Alley Festival of Film, Burlington, IA, June 20-23, 2018
GRRLS HAUS Cinema, WORM, Rotterdam, May 27, 2018
CineNoord, Rotterdam, May 18, 2018
Underexposed Film Festival yc, Rock Hill, SC, May 9-12, 2018
Northwest Fest, Edmonton, Canada, May 03-13, 2018
Riverside International Film Festival, Riverside, CA, April 17-22, 2018
Athens International Film and Video Festival, Athens, OH, USA, April 9-15, 2018
Black Maria Film Festival, NJ, USA, Feb 2018 – WINNER, Jury’s Citation Award
Cucalorus Film Festival, Wilmington, NC, Nov 8-12, 2017
St. Louis International Film Festival, St. Louis, MO, Oct 30-Nov 12, 2017
Tallgrass Film Festival, Wichita, KS, Oct 18-22, 2017
Primanima, the World Festival of First Animations, Budaors, Hungary, Oct 18-21, 2017
KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Oct 17-22, 2017
Imagine Science Film Festival, New York, NY, Oct 13-20, 2017
StopTrik International Film Festival, Maribor, Slovenia, Oct 5-8, 2017
Seoul international Extreme-Short Image & Film Festival (SESIFF), South Korea, Sept 12-15, 2017
Moonrise Film Festival, Wells, BC, Aug 25-27, 2017
ANIMAZE, Montreal International Animated Film Festival, Canada, Aug 20, 2017
Atlanta Underground Film Festival, GA, Aug 18-20, 2017
Chain Film Festival, Brooklyn, NY, Aug 7-13, 2017
San Antonio Film Festival, San Antonio, TX, Aug 1-6, 2017
Animation Block Party, Brooklyn, NY, July 27-30, 2017 – WORLD PREMIERE

Exhibitions/Screenings/Other:

Alaska Airlines Seattle International Film Festival Channel inflight entertainment, July 2019
Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA, June 30-Oct 22, 2017, solo show