Conversations with a Whale

In this love letter to artists, their art and its audience, a filmmaker is confronted with rejection after rejection until, at last a beautiful fig tree bears sweet fruits. “Conversations with a Whale” was created directly under the camera lens, using various analogue animation techniques.

"Anna Samo, or her animated alter ego in Conversations With A Whale has a charming appearance that evokes memories of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novella “The Little Prince”: the crown, the cape, the essential questions surrounding one’s own existence and a wee plant that is taken care of with lots of love are there. Not a rose though, but the tree of encouragement, as it turns out."

Marina D. Richter / UBIQUARIAN

T R A I L E R

8 min 45 sec // DCP // colour // English // 1:1,85 // Dolby Digital 7.1 // other available formats ProRes 422 HQ and H264

S T I L L S

F E S T I V A L S

PÖFF Shorts (Black Nights Film Festival) - Tallinn, Estonia

International competition, November 2020

Etiuda&Anima – Krakow, Poland

International competition, November 2020 – special jury mention

KABOOM Animation Festival – Amsterdam, Netherlands

Short docs competition, March 2021

Mecal Pro: Int. Short and Animation Film Festival - Barcelona, Spain

Animation competition, March 2021

Tampere Film Festival – Tampere, Finnlad

International competition, March 2021

Seattle International Film Festival – Seattle, US

Short films competition, April 2021

Go Short – International Short Film Festival Nijmegen Nijmegen, Netherlands

International competition, April 2021

Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) – Stuttgart, Germany

International competition, May 2021

Annecy International Animation Festival – Annecy, France

International competition, June 2021

B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S

A N N A S A M O / / V I T A

Anna Samo was born in 1980 in Moscow, Russia. On her first animation job in Moscow she scanned and colored hand drawn animation for director Ivan Maximov. For the first time she witnessed how thousands of separated drawings put together suddenly turn into a living character. She experienced the tickling feeling of surprise and wonder. This feeling has not left her ever since. Anna studied animation in Moscow and Berlin. She was a master student with Professor Gil Alkabetz who encouraged her to create very personal work and to strive for her own authentic voice. As an independent filmmaker she uses a variety of analog animation techniques to create her own films.

With her husband and two kids Anna relocated to the US in 2013. Anna’s films have been screened and won awards at highly acclaimed film festivals around the globe such as Berlin Film Festival - Berlinale, Annecy Film Festival, Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Films, Animafest Zagreb, Aspen Shortsfest, Sundance and Palm Springs, among others.

Anna lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

A N N A S A M O / / F I L M O G R A P H Y

2008 Hello Antenna (together with Veronika Samartseva) - 4:40min | cut out animation

2009 Hokus-Pokus - 4:12min | hand drawn animation

2010 white no white - 7:00min | sand animation

2012 Little Plastic Figure (together with Veronika Samartseva) - 3:10min, pixilation, stop motion, clay

2012 Eyes Closed - 6:00min | Animadoc | hand drawn animation

2013 Fish - 2:00min | Animadoc | hand drawn animation

2016 The Man is Big - 9:30min | paint on glas

2018 OBON (co-directed with Andre Hörmann) - 15:00min | animadoc | hand drawn in TvPaint

2019 The Opposites Game (together with Lisa LaBracio) - 4:00min | stop motion | drawing

2020 Conversations with a Whale - 8:40min | stop motion, pixilation, cut out, drawing

C R E D I T S

art, direction and animation by Anna Samo

produced by Tom Bergmann

music and sound design Merche Blasco

with the voices of Lisa Labracio, Merche Blasco Jason Patience, Biljana Labovich Jeremiah Dickey, Abdallah Ewis Bethany Cutmore-Scott

sound re-recording mixer Benjamin Beladi

additional sound design, foley and mix David Jalbert

STAMP executive producers Carl Vaudrin, Powys Dewhurst, Benjamin Beladi

colorist Will Cox online editor Kevin Caby post production services Final Frame

a production by Tiger Unterwegs Filmproduktion