Directed by Albertine Zullo and David Toutevoix, the stop-motion animated ‘The Cannonball Woman’ (‘La femme canon’) is the latest collaboration between producer Claude Barras and the National Film Board of Canada.
MONTREAL -- The National Film Board of Canada has announced that The Cannonball Woman (La femme canon), the first animated film by the directorial team of Albertine Zullo and David Toutevoix, will have its world premiere in Switzerland at the Locarno International Film Festival, where it will be competing for the Pardi di domani award for short and medium-length Swiss films.
A story about a love that stands the test of time, the short was produced by Hélium Films (Switzerland), Parmi les lucioles Films (France), and the NFB, in co-production with RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. The Locarno International Film Festival runs August 2-12, 2017. The film is the latest collaboration between producer Claude Barras and the NFB, which co-produced some of Barras’s animated shorts prior to the release of his animated feature film My Life as a Zucchini, a 2017 Oscar nominee.
The 14-minute stop-motion animated short film follows two carnies, Madeleine the Cannonball Woman and her husband. Their lives, like their show, seem to be perfectly under control. But in reality, Madeleine is unhappy and wants to break out of her routine. Without saying a word, she leaves her husband and becomes the Bearded Lady. Time passes, but their love for each other does not die.
Zullo was born in Dardagny, Switzerland, in 1967. She draws illustrations for print media, designs posters and other items, and works with directors of animated films and theatrical productions. For 17 years, she taught silkscreen printing and illustration at the Geneva School of Art and Design (HEAD). She has published many books for children and for adults, including several in collaboration with author Germano Zullo.
After earning his National Postgraduate Degree in Plastic Arts from the École des Beaux-Arts in Avignon, France, Toutevoix pursued his education in the art of the image by working first as a camera operator and then as a camera operator and director of photography specializing in stop-motion animation. He worked as assistant to director of photography Renato Berta on the animated feature Max & Co. and as director of photography for director Claude Barras, first on his animated short films and then on his animated feature My Life as a Zucchini. In 2016, Toutevoix co-directed his first animated short, The Cannonball Woman, with Albertine Zullo; he also served as director of photography on this film.
Source: National Film Board of Canada
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.
