Lift Creates Stop-Motion Heroine 'Henrietta Bulkowski'

Newly-launched stop-motion animation company Lift Animation aims to reinvigorate stop-motion with compelling, courageous and unconventional heroines. Lift Animation aims to push television that features strong female characters for boys and girls, men and women alike.

In Lift's new short film, Henrietta Bulkowski,  award-winning filmmaker and founder Rachel Johnson challenges the concept of beauty and explores themes of determination, acceptance and self-discovery. It is the tale of a hunchbacked young woman who yearns to explore the world — but with a spine so crooked and twisted all she can see is the ground. Isolated from the eyes of society in an expansive landfill, Henrietta works relentlessly to build herself a plane to fly away and see the world below her. This film is the story of how she finds happiness.

Since 2011, Lift Animation has been run out of Rachel Johnson’s apartment and backyard. Every day, a team of both seasoned professionals and emerging young artists gather in a tiny garage-turned-workshop to build the staggeringly beautiful sets and delicately life-like puppets that breathe life into Henrietta Bulkowski  and other visually- striking and meaningful projects. Everyone at Lift is devoted to making beautiful things and telling socially-conscious stories that inspire the outsider in all of us.

Johnson’s 2003 short film project, The Toll Collector, was made in the Czech Republic at the world-renowned Trnky Studios. Watch it, and the animated Lift logo, below:

Lift Animation is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to fund the filming of Henrietta Bulkowski.  From its humble beginnings, Lift has already created compelling and innovative work; imagine the possibilities as it continues to grow into a full-fledged animation studio.

Source: Lift Animation

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.