Lightbox: Cordell Barker’s “If I Was God…”
Amongst the Annecy official selection this year is Cordell Barker‘s welcome and much-anticipated return to animated shorts, with his first stop-motion endeavour If I Was God…
Shot stereoscopically, the film is a quasi-autobiographical musing on the director’s memories of school. The young Cordell hopes to one day yield Godlike powers to get his own way, triggered by an incident during a dissection class. Skwigly went behind the scenes at the National Film Board of Canada‘s English Animation Studio in Montreal to take a look at the various production methods the film boasts as well as glean some insight from the director himself.
Alongside a strong commercial career, Cordell’s previous film work includes the classic 1988 short The Cat Came Back, 2001’s Strange Invaders (both of which nominated for an Academy Award) and the Genie Award-winning Runaway (2009).
This latest film will be playing at major festivals throughout the year including Annecy this week.
You can hear more from our time with the brilliant Cordell Barker in an upcoming episode of the Skwigly Podcast. To get an exclusive look into other NFB productions, check out our Lightbox NFB Playlist featuring Torill Kove, Janet Perlman, Luc Chamberland and many more!
Produced, presented and edited by Ben Mitchell
Footage courtesy of the NFB
If any have yet to see it, Annecygoers can catch If I Was God… on Thursday 8th June, 6pm at the Salle Pierre Lamy and Friday 9th June, 4pm at the Pathé Annecy (Pathé 3).