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1-29 of 29
- "Utopia Parkway" explores the magic of objects and transformation. It was inspired by the boxes of Joseph Cornell, who lived on Utopia Parkway (Queens, NY) nearly all of his life. The animation was made with drawings on index cards, molded replacement sculptures, wooden boxes, cigar boxes, bottles and seashells. "The works I found most compelling not only had an intellectual and emotional resonance beyond their construction, they also stood somewhere outside the traditional narrative. "Utopia Parkway" was especially a pleasure to watch." -Rachel Rosen, Northwest Film and Video Festival Juror
- A jubilant look at the art, architecture, mutant vehicles, rituals and rave culture at the 2019 dust festival in the Black Rock Desert.
- Award winning indie filmmaker Joanna Priestley presents a digital image and film show that celebrates her favorite sculptures, architecture, installations and art cars at the famous Burning Man festival from 2002 to 2022. Priestley also shares tales of her experiences in Black Rock City. This show was presented at the Empirical Theater at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, Oregon, USA on April 20, 2024. "Burning Man has such a powerful impact on our culture and art. To have a local artist bring the visual and creative splendor of the festival to us on the big screen is an honor and a thrill." -Melony Beaird, OMSI Director of Events.
- A traveler's love letter to Andalusia, this animated film is an homage to the culture, landscape, and architecture of southern Spain. "Colors dance and landscapes morph to the rhythms of southern Spain in the latest work from two award-winning animators." -New York Film Festival "Short but sweet, this new animated tribute to southern Spain is just six minutes long, but the tale spans centuries." -Cheryl Sinapis, Boston Globe
- A powerful, emotional and sometimes humorous look at the daily life of a prison inmate and a corrections officer
- All My Relations satirizes the pitfalls of romance, from marriage, childbirth and upward mobility to the disintegration of a relationship. The animation is framed by a series of sculptural assemblages, which emphasize the message implied by the archetypal characters whose dilemmas may be familiar to those who have bought into the American Dream. Selected Festivals: National Independent Film Competition: Grand Prix, Black Maria Film and Video Festival: Jury Award for Excellence, Big Muddy Film Festival: Best of Festival, American Film and Video Festival: Red Ribbon Award, Tournee of Animation, Black Maria Film Festival: Jury award for Excellence, Northwest Film and Video Festival: Honorable Mention, New York Film Festival, Athens International Film Festival: Honorable Mention, Odense Film Festival.
- A short film animated with sand, frame by frame, on a sheet of glass, lit from below. Based on a traditional Ojibwa Native American tale about Coyote, the Trickster.
- Pieces of candy form moving images and figures.
- Abstract animated feature inspired by the Yukon.
- "After the Fall" is about loneliness and feeling isolated.
- A powerful mythic poem about women, the Goddess and the human spirit. It examines our foibles and frailties and how we can grow out of them.
- A plastic tub takes a long, hazardous trip from the USA to China to get recycled. A short short by award winning indie animator Joanna Priestley.
- Jung and Restless examines Jung's mysterious mythopoetic realm via dream imagery, animated mandalas and patterns of perception. "The soul knows bigger stories." - C. G. Jung
- Still life silhouettes collide with abstract shapes and complex, interlocking patterns. Reimagining the commonplace objects of a classical painting genre with experimental animation.
- Hand Held is an animated film about the nature of oppression and community spirit. The animation, made with ink, watercolor and pastels on index cards has been shot while being held in real people's hands. The community of hands that surrounds the artwork includes people of all ages and races, prosthetic hands and animal paws. The soundtrack for HAND HELD was performed by the acclaimed acappella quartet: The Bobs, Joe Finetti, Richard Greene, Janie Scott and Matthew Stull. Five pictographic figures (representing the world's races), carve a rock into the shape of a huge hand. The hand comes to life and begins to chase and intimidate and them. The harassment escalates, with the hand forcing them to 'toe the line' and do acrobatic tricks. The stick figures rebel, but the hand counters with a series of placating maneuvers: entertaining them with televison and giving each of them a credit card. They buy a mountain of commodities, which slowly dissolves into the huge, grey hand. In desperation, the stick figures band together and take a vote. United, they illuminate their own hands and set alight the giant hand. They are thrilled as it disappears into a pile of ashes, but soon become bored. They carve a new, beneficent, golden hand and are cautious around it until they realize that they have created exactly what they wanted . They climb onto the palm and fly into the future. Festivals Awards: Marin County Film Festival: First Prize, Northwest Film and Video Festival: First Prize, Black Maria Film Festival: Director's Citation, Humbolt Film Festival: Honorable Mention, Stuttgart International Animation Festival, Leipzig International Film Festival, Schorndorf International Cartoon Festival, Medicine Wheel Animation Festival: Honorable Mention.
- "In a time when everyone seems to be writing about aging, Priestley does a brilliant job of reclaiming 40 and her own process of middle aging with humor, optimism and an award winning animation style that just might make twenty-somethings wish they were older."
- "An imaginative, witty and energetic film. The images are all made from new and old rubber stamps which combine, entangle and collide at a rapid and joyous pace. A hundred little stories are told as the images zip by to a collaged sound-track of voices and musical fragments. Pure delight!" -Melinda Ward, Walker Art Center
- Playful choreography of abstract shapes to delight the eye.
- Streetcar Named Perspire is a roller coaster ride through the brain fog, flashes, mood swings, depression, pimples and rage of one of life's great transitions.
- Extended Play was a large scale,"L" shaped, animated outdoor installation with two performers providing live Foley sound. It premiered on June 28, 2007 at "Inside Out", Platform International Animation Festival, in Portland, OR, USA.
- xo1 is a playful combination of sharp edged, abstract shapes based on tribal tattoos and everyday objects common in still life painting, including a vase, flower, bowl, bottle and teakettle. The film transposes traditional still life compositions to a modern setting. This short experiment was influential in Priestley's short film Bottle Neck (2013) and her abstract feature North of Blue (2018). xo1 was shown in "BIOSHIFT - Elemental Designs for a Malleable World" at the Peephole Cinema (San Francisco, CA) from March 28 to May 22, 2016 and screened continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Times Square is an experimental abstract meditation on urban shapes and sounds. It was a collaboration by Jules Engel, head of the Experimental Animation Department at California Institute of the Arts and his teaching assistant and student, Joanna Priestley. Times Square was made with a keyboard and a Cubicomp and IBM-AT, using Lumena, Easel and PC-10 software. Digital images on a computer monitor were shot onto 16mm film using a tripod mounted Bolex camera, pointed at the monitor. Co-directors Engel and Priestley were in the first computer animation class at Cal Arts (1984-85), taught by Vibeke Sorensen.
- The luscious patterns and delicate lines of Split Ends playfully construct full field patterns and reference ornamental designs of the industrial era. Without relying on pop culture reference points, some patterns stimulate a collective memory of youthful self-hypnosis and visual absorption. Split Ends is the second film in an abstract trilogy that began with Eye Liner.
- Layers of animation featuring more than 600 sculptures, 200 glass pieces and 2200 drawings evoke an inspiring diving exploration in a freshwater lake in Yucatan.
- "Dew Line" is an abstract tapestry of biomorphic forms that hints at the loss of botanical diversity. The title refers to the shapes created by condensation and to the line of radar stations (Distant Early Warning) built in Alaska, USA during the Cold War. Made with FlashMX. "Priestley's playful eye takes us on a tour through the cycle of life and death as cells split apart, regenerate and dance a microbiological twist." -Sam Green, San Francisco University Festival Awards: Big Muddy Film Festival: First Prize, Fantoche International Animation Festival: Best of the World Program (Switzerland), Hiroshima International Animation Festival: Best of the World Program (Japan), Black Maria Film Festival: Director's Citation.