Toys

As a director, I am drawn to stories about parents and children, particularly the pivotal moment when a parent looks at a child and sees them as an individual for the first time. Peggy Pope’s poem so perfectly encapsulates that moment–in its uncertainty, danger, and poignancy. From the moment I read it, I knew I wanted to make it into a film.

TOYS is my first animated film. Animation seemed fitting because it is essentially a child’s story, and I wanted the film to look like a grown-up version of what a child could make. I chose cut-outs and stop-motion because of the purity and simplicity of the aesthetic. The process consisted of having actors act out the narrative against white walls, printing those photographs, cutting them out by hand to make hundreds of paper dolls, and re-assembling them against collage backdrops to photograph again.

I chose to have it narrated by Peggy (now 86 years old) because I liked the added meaning of an old woman looking back on this climactic moment in her life. We are implicitly reminded that her father is long gone, but this moment that passed between them lingers even into old age.