Horror taps into the innate fragility of being human; it spooks us, it unsettles us, it scares us. And there is no better medium than animation to get under your skin. Animation has the power to connect with us and make us feel deeply, which in turn makes animation and horror the perfect pairing.
Join WIA UK as they chat with three brilliant directors about combining horror and hand made animation. We’ll hear from them as they discuss the ways they play with genre to truly get under the skin of their audience.
CAT JOHNSTON
With a background in stop motion animation, Cat Johnston mixes skills learnt in that industry with her own unique illustration style and design sensibility to create a strange universe of fantastical creatures. Often inspires by folklore, the natural world and her own childhood memories, these creatures and characters each carry their own backstory. They manifest in the form of mixed media sculptures and an almost constant stream of drawings.
Over the years Cat has worked for a wide range of clients in a multitude of mediums: from illustration to character design, large scale window displays to tiny props and sets for stop motion. And she has made a varied menagerie of puppets for both animated and live action films and commercials. Previous clients include Penguin, Linda McCartney Foods and Facebook. She recently spent 4 years working in the costume department at Laika and doing look development for their upcoming film Wildwood. She has recently co directed her first film – a live action short starring several of her characters in puppet form (one of which is almost human sized!).
TOVA PERSSON
Tova Persson is a Swedish animation director and storyboard artist based in Bristol. Often drawing inspiration from oil paintings and her Swedish roots, Tova’s work revolves around the humour of the strange and melancholic, frequently expressed through dramatic scenery and myths. Her film Offerlamm has won multiple global recognitions and is her directorial debut.
RENEE ZHAN
Renee Zhan is a Chinese-American director and animator from Houston, Texas. Renee graduated with an BA from Harvard University and an MA in directing animation from the National Film and Television school. In her films Renee is primarily interested in exploring topics of female identity, nature, and sexuality – all things beautiful, ugly, and squishy. She is an alumnus of the Sarabande Foundation, BAFTA crew x BFI Network and Berlinale Talents. Her short films were screened at multiple international festivals such as AFI Fest, Locarno, TIFF, SXSW, Telluride and Renee gained an Annie Award nomination and won the Jury Prize for her animated short at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
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.
