The stop-motion short, the final film in the Brooklyn filmmaker’s ecological trilogy, comes to the NY Anthology Film Archives May 22 as part of a free public screening of shorts featuring 2023 NYC Women's Fund Grant recipients.
Brooklyn filmmaker and artist Catya Plate’s award-winning stop-motion animated short Las Nogas added another feather in its cap, scoring the Best Animation Award at the Queens World Film Festival last month in New York City. The final short in Plate’s award-winning ecological stop-motion trilogy and proof of concept film had its New York premiere screening as part of the festival’s “Environmentally Speaking Bloc.”
Las Nogas can be seen at New York's iconic Anthology Film Archives on Wednesday, May 22, at 6:30 pm. The film will show as part of a special one-night free public screening of award-winning shorts with the 2023 NYC Women's Fund Grant recipients.
Plate describes Las Nogas as an animated metaphor that upholds environmental awareness using her quirky Clothespins Freaks stop-motion. The film tells the story of the Homeys, who, in 2523, are the struggling survivors of Earth, now a dry wasteland destroyed by humans. Dr. Alma, a fluffy, brilliant Vulkeet (a parakeet/vulture hybrid), is the only one capable of curing the remaining creatures by bringing back the rain.
Misty Lee (Alma), John McBride (Hitch & Homey), Phil Miller (Gormal & Albert), Clarissa Jacobson (Queen Bee & Marilyn Bee), and Alessandra Levy (Singing Bees & Homeys) voice the characters.
Plate produced, directed, wrote the script, animated, designed, and did cinematography along with co-producer Todd Aven, assistant director Carolyn Maher, editors Todd Aven and Alana Corwin, music supervisor Antoni Mairata, and sound designer Neal Benezra. Joe Bratcher consulted on the script. Additional songs featured include “Water Renewal,” written by Plate, and “Be My Little Baby Bumblebee” by Henry I. Marshall/Stanley Murphy.
In April 2023, Plate received the 2023 NYC Women’s Fund Grant Award from the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) and New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) for Los Nogas. Since the film's July launch on the festival circuit, accolades received include the Green Planet Award at Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival (World Premiere), Best Animated Film at Fano International Film Festival (Italy Premiere), and Jury Prize: Best Short at the Green Film Festival of San Francisco.
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
