Milena Fiodorow
This short, musical/ horror stop motion film follows a young fox, who goes against his mother's warnings and is then faced with a murmuration of dancing starlings who want to make him into their next meal. The film is an ode to traditional puppetry techniques such as shadow puppetry, zoetropes and marionette shows through paper cut out and puppet animation.
This film was created by a team of wonderful creatives, Thank you so much to everyone who worked with me to make this film!
Directing, Writing, Puppet Making, Puppet Animation and Compositing
Milena Fiodorow
Co Production
Percy Yates
Music and Sound
Patrick McGlynn (Dr. Mindflip)
Sound Mixing
Karima Dillon El Toukhy
Paper Cut Out Animation
Robin Bennett
Cinematography
Patrick Gregg
Concept Set Design
Tommy Bermingham
Set Building Advisor/ Mentorship
Paul Mc Donnell
Lead Set Building
Sarah Cosgrave
Set Building
Rachel Murtagh Mooney
Cuan Berrow
Harlan Cleary
Prop making
Sofia De Silva
Edoardo Corradi
Fox Puppet Costuming and Hat Making
Leaf Tottanham
Compositing
Laura Masterson
Patrick Gregg
Dylan Orr
Robin Bennett
Colour Correction
Patrick Gregg
Voice Acting
Patrick McGlynn
Aine Dilleen
Dylan Orr
Special Thanks
Eimhin McNamara, Jack O'Shea, Laura Venables, Niall Doherty, Rachel Fitzgerald, Alan Holly, David Quin, Ann Upton, Ross Maloney, Róisín Sinai Kelly.
Special Thanks
Alexander Fiodorow, Katarzyna Fiodorow and my amazing friends
Thesis Abstract:
This thesis aims to investigate the tradition of Czech puppetry being utilised as an act of resistance through three periods of oppression, as well as the censorship of puppetry in each era.
I will be presenting how puppetry was used as an act of resistance to the Habsburg rule through language preservation by itinerant puppeteers and social commentary through performances including How Kašpárek Laid Austria to Rest (1918) by Josef Skupa.
I will then discuss how puppetry was used as an act of resistance to the Nazi German occupation through social commentary in Spejbl and Hurvinek plays including The Three-Floor Carousel (1939) by Josef Skupa and the preservation of hope and culture through Kašpárek underground performances and continued performances in Terzin and Ravensbrück concentration camps.
I will then analyse how Jiří Trnka used puppetry in The Hand (1965), as an act of resistance through social commentary. I also aim to identify the forms of punishment risked by the puppeteers as part of their resistance. I will compare the Habsburg, Nazi German and Communist authorities’ approach to censorship of the medium and the methods that puppeteers utilised to avoid censorship in each era.
My name is Milena, I specialise in stop motion animation and puppet making. My projects explore themes of finding love in unlikely places, perseverance through hardship and repeating history through fantastical stop motion stories. For my final year project I directed a short, musical stop motion film named Ballad of the Starlings.
