Filmmaker channels grief of mother's COVID-19 death into animated film with mourning raccoon
This story is translated from Radio-Canada's French-language coverage of selected works from the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Originals grant. À lire en français sur le site de Radio-Canada.
For Amiki, any scheme to see her grandfather is a good one. The little raccoon's imagination transforms a cardboard box into a car, a boat, or even a rocket that would let her propel herself one last time into the arms of the one she has lost.
In his new short animated film Bonne nuit Papili, filmmaker and animator Francis Gélinas explores grief in children through the ordeals undergone by Amiki, his little puppet made of resin and wire. The raccoon-child who comes to terms with her grandpa's death is also a metaphor for the director's own journey.
"I lost my mother because of COVID-19 and shortly afterwards, my father-in-law also died. Even if he didn't lose his life because of the virus, the result was the same: We were never able to visit them to take care of them in the hospital. More than the loss, it's that separation that was the most difficult," said Francis Gélinas.
This double loss made him want to dust off the little puppet, who had been sleeping in a box since its birth in a university project. With the funds obtained through the Connexion Création grant, Francis Gélinas was able to hire the playwright Francis Monty, who overlaid Amiki's sorrow with delicate and simple words.
The filmmaker surrounded himself with a small, dedicated team who brought his character to life in four days of filming and two weeks of editing; even his wife lent her voice to the young raccoon. "When you hear the emotion in her words, it's not a game. It was an intensely moving project for her too," said Gélinas, who is also the father of four young children. Even the musical dressing in the film has special meaning: the final song was composed by Francis Gélinas' father-in-law.
Bonne nuit Papili is probably Francis Gélinas' most personal project; he has been in the business for 14 years and founded his own production company for animated films, couleur.tv. Even if his other films, L'histoire du méchant dragon and Au pays du cancre mou, quickly delighted film fans, the director hesitates to launch Amiki onto the traditional festival circuit.
"It would be the classic route; it's even already been shown at Festival Stop Motion Montréal, but I want to put it out directly on social networks. It is something precious that I want to share quickly to get feedback and have exchanges with people," he explains.
Beyond a simple film, Francis Gélinas envisions his work as a tool for families who have lived through a similar story. Amiki shows that if her imagination isn't strong enough to bring back her grandfather, she possesses another magic power: she can keep him alive through her memories and her thoughts.
This story is part of Digital Originals, an initiative of the Canada Council for the Arts. Artists were offered a $5,000 micro-grant to either adapt their existing work or create new work for the digital world during the COVID-19 pandemic. CBC Arts has partnered with Canada Council to feature a selection of these projects. This story is translated from Radio-Canada's French-language Digital Originals coverage. You can see more of these projects here.
