Interview with Cannes Selected ‘Bunnyhood’ Director & Producer | Mansi Maheshwari & Ashionye Ogene
Skwigly
Mansi Drawing Bunnyhood Characters. Source: National Film and Television School
The 77th Cannes Film Festival kicked off last week and amongst the celebrities and aspiring creatives gathering at Le Palais des Festivals are a group of National Film and Television School graduates. Their surreal animation Bunnyhood, an exploration of a young girl’s anxiety and made during their time training at the renowned film school, has been selected to have its world premiere as part of the festival’s La Cinéfondation category this Thursday.
Skwigly sat down with Bunnyhood Director Mansi Maheshwari and Producer Ashionye Ogene to find out how this extraordinary team of film school students have found themselves at one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world just three months after graduating.
Having never done animation before going to the National Film and Television School, what did it feel like taking your first steps on this journey?
MANSI: Making animation was a wonderful journey of self-discovery. I never thought I could be patient enough to draw for hours yet here I am. Animating for the first time was definitely challenging as I was around brilliant filmmakers and animators. But even a few hours of work feels so rewarding when you watch your drawings come to life which makes the journey really easy.
Ashionye, what were you doing before you applied for the Producing MA at the NFTS?
ASHIONYE: I lived and worked across North and South America, Africa and the Middle East as a journalist and documentary filmmaker. Covering a wide range of topics on the ground from global business, arts, entertainment to frontline war reporting and international politics.
Right before applying to the NFTS I was working at the BBC as the launch producer on a global business show in the business unit. Since I was a little girl, I’ve always loved stories and the lockdown and COVID-19 pandemic gave me the push to dive head on back into my creative roots and gain the technical skills I needed to become a creative producer.
Where did the concept for Bunnyhood come from?
MANSI: Creating Bunnyhood was a journey that started with a moment of self-reflection. I realised how we often tell lies to protect the ones we love from the harsh truths of this world. I caught myself in a lie, making me wonder why I did it. This story was a perfect choice as it came from my own experiences and allowed me to have fun with the technique.
What was it about Bunnyhood that made you want to work on this film?
ASHIONYE: I watched Mansi’s films in the first year at the NFTS and I was absolutely blown away by her unique talent. I knew that I wanted to work with her for the graduate animation module and I trusted her vision from the very beginning of development. The film is original, exciting and crazy. With a really fun and talented team. A producer’s dream.
Why did you choose to make the film in this unique animation style?
MANSI: I like drawing with simple ballpoint pens and I wanted to do cel animation as I wanted a vintage flyer look for the film. Like old rock band posters. I chose a frosted cel to draw, acetate to paint, the butter paper that divides each acetate to draw the background layer, and finally paint on white copy paper.
We drew the whole film on A5 sheets and then scanned each frame on a copier at the NFTS. It was a long process of animating, colouring, assembling layers, line testing and then scanning. The layers of each frame were stacked physically and not comped in. This was a lot of work and would have been impossible without Paula Gonzalez, Ryan Power, Elizabeth Fraser, Kathryn Haddow, Beatrice Babbo and Lucas Freun, the brilliant animation assistants that stuck with me throughout production.
Bunnyhood techniques. Source: National Film and Television School
The use of colour throughout was very selective, with some scenes entirely in black and white and others with pops of colour. How did you use this to steer the storytelling?
MANSI: I like to limit the amount of colours that I’m going to use in a drawing. I had 5 major colours and I decided to never use more than 2 in the same shot, excluding black and white. Each location had one colour; yellow for home, blue for the outside world, green for the hospital and red for ‘Appendix World.’
This helped in storytelling as when you leave a dream sequence and come back to real time in the film, the colour immediately reminds you where you were in the story.
What were the challenges of producing this animation?
ASHIONYE: There weren’t many if I’m honest. We were fortunate to have an incredibly hardworking team and the best tutors. Animation is a long process and a short film would take longer to produce outside of the academic structure. So in that regard, the biggest challenge was time, but every producer would like more of that!
Another challenge was finding the film’s soundtrack. NFTS animation films feature student composers and sound designers and we’re very lucky as the talent at the NFTS is incredible. The film is so unique so it took us a while to find a sound to match the animation. But Mansi knew exactly what that sound was and together with the film’s Sound Designer and Dubbing Mixer Alexander Faingold and Composer Marcin Mazurek, we created a really powerful soundtrack and soundscape for the crazy world of Bunnyhood.
The use of sound is very effective in amping up the anxiety level. What were the choices behind using voice, cars, chainsaws and other sounds throughout the film?
MANSI: Sound designing was one of my favourite parts of the process. Alexander and I spoke about the story beats and emotion it conveys, and the rest was left to improvisation.
ALEX: I wanted to see how many beats within a scene could be made through the sound and music: choppy, exciting and unforgiving. Anxious when the intensity peaked and reserved and natural for the emotional moments, while comedy gave it a feeling of light heartedness and unpredictability throughout the mad journey of Bunnyhood. In the mix we had a microphone at hand to quickly record sounds or dialogue with our own voices as we watched through, karaoke-style.
Bunnyhood techniques. Source: National Film and Television School
How did you feel when you found out Bunnyhood had been selected for Cannes Film Festival?
MANSI: I never expected or even dreamt about getting into Cannes as this is my first film ever so getting selected was really special. When I heard the news, I was with my mother sitting in a pub. She had come down to London for my graduation. She hadn’t seen the film yet but the joy and pride on her face when she heard that Bunnyhood had been selected made the moment so much more bigger and emotional.
ASHIONYE: It was the best feeling. Euphoria is the word that comes to mind. It felt incredibly surreal but also like the culmination of hard work and dedication which has resulted in something truly special for the entire team.
One of just four animations selected for La Cinéf and featuring the voice talents of Nina Wadia (Goodness Gracious Me, Bend It Like Beckham), Bunnyhood will screen at Cannes Film Festival on Thursday 23 May. This year marks the fourth consecutive selection of a National Film and Television School student-made film at La Cinéf.