"Hi, It's your Mother" - Meet Daniel Sterlin-Altman
We all love the stop-motion medium. Some of the best kids movies and cartoons ever made have been realised through this medium: think of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Fantastic Mr Fox and Wallace and Gromit. Can you picture them? Right, now throw them out of the window. We spoke to Toronto-born Daniel Sterlin-Altman about his latest short film Hi, It's your Mother, why everyone is talking about it and how the stop-motion can be a means for social activism. Hi, It's your Mother is a tragi-comedy, multi-award winner, short film about a woman who receives a call from her mother and it does not end well.
P*B* _ How did you get the idea for the script? Has the video changed from your initial planning/idea?
Daniel _ Hi, It's Your Mother started just as a string of visuals and events I wanted to see on screen in stop-motion. I knew that I wanted to animate a woman in a fancy cocktail dress dancing to Bossa Nova (check!) and a mother walking in on her son having gay sex and not notice (check!). The story came from brainstorming how I could get those two things to happen in one film.
The film has changed significantly from its earlier iteration. I initially struggled to give enough life and agency to the main character, Lisa. It was important for me for Lisa to show depth and evoke compassion, and not to be a 1-dimensional nagging mother that perpetuates popular images of women and mother figures. Continuing drafts of the script showed Lisa's psyche more and more.
P*B* _ Why did you choose the stop motion?
Daniel _ Stop motion is the perfect balance between realism and the surreal. I love that in stop motion I can create an almost picture perfect world, and then put very obviously cartoony and fake characters inside it. It creates at once a relatable and visceral reaction from viewers as they feel like they can easily project onto these cartoons, but also can get invested and shocked by animated blood!
P*B* _ This short is part of your thesis, what is it about?
Daniel _ In terms of the academic proponent of this work, the content constraints were virutually non-existent. On a personal level, I wanted this short to a) test my capacity to evoke strong emotion from the stop motion medium, and b) create a queer narrative that is not simplified to coming out and shame. Rather, this short focuses on early stages of the queer existence, and the role family plays in this process.
P*B* _ Can you tell us more about how the relationships in the short work, mother and daughter, daughter and son and son and boyfriend?
Daniel _ In the end, Hi, It's Your Mother is a story about the boundaries between generations, and the trust that bridges them. Lisa and her mother, Martha, have a challenging overbearing relationship that makes Lisa feel suffocated. As a result, Lisa tries her best to be unlike her own mother and to give her son, Adam, full privacy and independence. The conclusion of the story exemplifies the respect and trust that Adam has developed for his mother in spite of their initial distance. The poor boyfriend is just along for the ride, enjoying teenage sex and saving Lisa's life.
P*B* _ Another amazing short animation that you directed is Get Consent about sexual assault. Do you think that animation could be a form of social activism?
Daniel _ Totally. In fact, we've already had angry comments on the video from people offended by it, which is both sad and cool. Animation is a great way to get ideas across in an accessible visual way, which is why we're seeing more and more animated documentaries being accepted as real documentaries. Even putting visibility, for something like a queer relationship, is a form of social activism.
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Hi, It's Your Mother
Created by Daniel Sterlin-Altman Voiced by Naomi L., Elie Waitzer Sound Design by Sylvain Paradis Music Composition by Joshua Bucchi Music mix by Rebekah Wineman Sound mix by Matthew Lederman Supervised by Shira Avni ©Daniel Sterlin-Altman 2016 Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema- Concordia University Supported by: The Fine Arts Student Alliance (FASA) Concordia Council for Student Life (CCSL)
