Working with beach sand and table salt has paid off for Leura film-maker Marieka Walsh, whose latest production won the Yoram Gross Animation Award at this month’s Sydney Film Festival.
This film, The Crossing, tells the story of an ageing and alone sea captain who finds solace in an unlikely companion. Tantalisingly, she won’t be drawn on who or what the companion is.
“That’d spoil the whole film,” she said.
Ms Walsh creates her animations over a light box, sprinkling the salt or sand on top then gently brushing portions aside, grooming and grading to create strikingly realistic images.
“I spread out a layer of sand or salt and then pull back the grains to reveal the light beneath it,” she said.
She didn’t intend to pursue a career in animation but became fascinated by it while doing a visual arts degree at university.
“I enjoy working within the realm of moving images. I have always painted and drawn but I just wasn’t exposed to anything to do with film as a kid or a young adult.
“I got into moving images through video installations [at uni]. Then I wanted my images to move and tell stories.”
Ms Walsh, who also teaches animation two days a week, didn’t expect to win the award, named in honour of former Wentworth Falls resident, the late Yoram Gross.
“It was a surprise,” she said, while praising her competition.
Ms Walsh was presented with the award by the Gross’s son, Guy, a composer best known for the music of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Her win follows success she had with her first film, The Hunter, which won best short animation at the 2013 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards.
She has also done work for the credits of The Turning, based on a collection of Tim Winton short stories, and for That Sugar Film, which starred Hugh Jackman.
Ms Walsh has no immediate projects in the pipeline, but will spend time “cooking up some ideas” and spending time with partner, photographer Kurt Sorensen and their 15-month-old daughter Edie.
