Our Picks: Babushka by Alice-Rose Parker
A short stop-motion film about a young boy and the homeless woman he passes on the street every day. The story is set in Krakow, Poland, where the inspiration for the narrative took place.
Directors Notes
Having always been in love with the Pixar shorts and their ability to tell such powerful stories that touch the audiences’ emotions without using any dialogue, I knew I wanted to create a short film of my own which could tell a heartwarming tale without dialogue.
The inspiration for my narrative came while on a trip in Krakow, Poland. While walking down the street I saw a little girl, about 7 years old, approach an old homeless woman wearing a headscarf and stand reading the cardboard sign begging for help. It was -20 degrees and I could see that the little girl was so saddened to see this lady sat in the freezing cold. I watched as she emptied the entire contents of her small purse into the homeless woman’s pot and run off back down the street. I was so moved by how this girl was so selfless and caring at such a young age and so decided to base my narrative around this story.
I wrote, built, filmed, lit, animated and edited the entire film by myself, only collaborating with a composer and sound designer at the end. I built everything you see in this film from scratch, from the battery operated streetlamps right down to the doorknobs. I designed each building of my stop-motion street to look like stylized versions of real buildings in Krakow. I laser cut the buildings from plywood and decorated them using brick stencils and a brick compound which I mixed with food dye. I spent a month building miniature doors and windowsills, designing street signs, wiring lampposts and molding tiny plant pots and door handles from Fimo clay. The buildings measure in at around 80cm in height and the entire street comes to 2m in length.
Credits
Director & Animator: Alice-Rose Parker
Composer: James Fawcett
Sound Designer: Jacopo Consonni
Eye Actress: Lucy Parker
