Short films are the backbone of the animation industry: they’re a way to cut your teeth as a storyteller, experiment with new techniques and unpack your original ideas. But there are many challenges and harsh realities when it comes to completing a passion project. So how do you ensure you finish your short film?
Join WIA UK as they chat with three brilliant creators about the process of making short films from the perspective of a studio, a collective and an individual. They’ll discuss the highs and lows of bringing a short film to life and, ultimately, the joy of sharing something of your own with the world. Because, despite the many hurdles, it’s always worthwhile getting a short film over the finish line.
NORA TWOMEY
Nora Twomey is the co-founder of Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon. From the studio’s early years, directing award winning short films & commercials, she went on to co-direct Tomm Moore’s Academy Award nominated The Secret of Kells while also guiding the development processes on a number of series including the preschool show Puffin Rock. Nora was Head of Story and Voice Director on Academy Award nominated Song of the Sea. She directed The Breadwinner, which won the Best Indie Feature Annie and the Audience & Jury Awards at Annecy.
Nora most recently directed My Father’s Dragon feature film, a Netflix original animated feature. Nora continues to develop original films and projects while working on Cartoon Saloon’s slate of projects in development and production.
MARY MARTINS
Mary Martins is a British-Nigerian independent animator from London. She produces short animated documentaries, using the art of storytelling to explore the experiences of marginalized communities in the UK, Nigeria and Brazil.
She experiments and collages layers of different traditional and digital animation techniques, pushing the boundaries of filmmaking. Her films have been screened on London Piccadilly Lights, Berlin Limes, Seoul’s COEX K-Pop Square and Melbourne’s Fed Square, and at film festivals nationally and internationally. She was the winner of the CIRCA x Dazed Prize in 2022.
CLARA SCHILDHAUER
Clara Schildhauer is a freelance 2D animator and lead clean up artist working primarily in commercial an boutique animation, but also often contributing to short films, independent animated projects, and more.
Beginning her career in 2021 as an intern of The Line Animation Studio, she has gone on to collaborate with many award-winning studios such as Sun Creature, Nexus, and Blink, to name a few. Besides freelance work, in 2022 she joined Studio Heartbreak, a women-led collective of junior industry professionals, as Lead Animator during the development of their debut original short film The Lovers which went to attract over $410000 from more than 7000 backers of Kickstarter. Ever since their wildly successful crowdfunding campaign, Clara and the rest of the collective have been har at work to deliver the queer psychological thriller.
TANYA J SCOTT (MODERATOR)
Panel host Tanya J Scott is an award-winning director and creator based in London who loves bread, cats, medieval manuscripts and a fair amount of weirdness and whimsy!
After 14 years of working in television series for some of the largest UK studios, Tanya decided to study for her MA at the National Film and Television School, graduating in 2023. Her film The Wolf of Custer has gone on to screen at Oscar and BAFTA qualifying festivals worldwide and won a British Animation Award in 2024. Tanya now works in directing and development for animation but she also writers and illustrates. Along with writer Sam Morrison, Tanya is co-creator of The Underglow, a preschool series commissioned by the BBC via the inaugural ignite scheme.
