Tulip – Interview with Creators Andrea Love and Phoebe Wahl
The dream team that is Phoebe Wahl and Andrea Love have brought us a magical, wooly adaptation of Thumbelina. Already gaining festival selections and an Audience Award at the New York International Children’s Film Festival, it’s off to a great start and will be screening at Annecy Festival this summer! The stop-motion tale is set in a bountiful and enchanted forest that’s brimming with life. The soft scenery is filled with deep warm colours that offset nicely the pastels of our little hero Tulip, the 6-year-old born from a flower. We join the curious Tulip, straying from her docile home and follow her as she loses her way through the giant blades of grass and towering flowers. The felted set, characters and props are abundant and beautiful; flowing water, wildlife, glowing pink clouds, if I could live there, I would. It’s home to all sorts of funny and cute creatures that shape Tulip’s journey and help her on her way through the sprawling forest. The fashionista Frog describes Tulip as “a lovely centerpiece for my bonnet” and pops her on his head. Little jokes like these are sprinkled throughout and will be making lots of children giggle I’m sure.
Tulip harnesses the cosy charm that the folksy way of life brings with it’s lanterns, flutes and cottages, I can just smell the woodburners! The short offers a change from our digitally oriented world to one centered in nature with an idyllic sense of community. Tulip finds help from strangers and in turn helps others. She recognises herself in the swallow and nurses it back to health until they can return the favour. Amongst the whirlwind adventure with frogs and fairies the film grapples with difficult themes; alienation, adoption, love and belonging, showing children that it’s possible to find home and family in more than one place. These topics are explored sensitively and are wrapped in silliness. With so many kooky characters, so many background components and a soundtrack full of bops, it’s clear an immense amount of work has gone into this heart-felt short. Read on to hear from its co-creators Andrea Love and Phoebe Wahl.
Phoebe Wahl & Andrea Love
Tell us about Tulip!
AL (Andrea Love): Tulip is a whimsical and modern adaptation of the beloved fairytale Thumbelina. We wanted to put our own spin on a familiar story and create a film that both kids and their parents would enjoy. Phoebe and I collaborated on this 9-minute film for over a year, with the bulk of the production completed in my basement studio. It was an all-consuming labour of love, and I am thrilled with finished film.
PW (Phoebe Wahl): Almost all of Tulip is animated with needle-felted wool. Andrea is an incredibly skilled fiber artist, and I have experience in fabric sculpture and sewing, so together we were able to create almost everything in Tulip from textiles and fiber, which gives a quite literal warm & fuzzy feeling to our film!
Was there a core message in Tulip that you wanted to be told?
PW: At its root, it’s a story about belonging, and finding out who you are. The original Thumbelina has always raised so many questions for me, as a reader. I’ve always loved its rich, beautiful imagery, but have often wanted more from the plot. Many of the story’s themes revolve around marriageability even though Thumbelina is supposed to be a young child. I was always so sad that she was never reunited with her mother again.
I wanted to create a version of the story in which Tulip (Thumbelina) is given a little more curiosity and agency in leaving her mother’s house, where she’s free from the marriage plots, and able to not only find a sense of belonging amongst the fairies, but also return to a life with her mother as well.
Phoebe, you write / illustrate children’s books and Andrea, you’re an animator; how do you work as a pair?
AL: We had never collaborated before but knew that our styles would mesh well. Since we have quite different backgrounds and complimentary skills, we naturally fell into our respective roles. Phoebe wrote the script and took the lead on character and set design. I took the lead on fabrication and animation. We live an hour and a half away from each other, so we were able to get together in person from time to time. But when Covid hit, we moved to virtual collaboration. We had so much fun working on this project together, and hope this can serve as a springboard for further collaborations.
PW: Even though we have different skill sets, I think the fact that we are both creatives and storytellers really helped our collaboration bloom. We are both people who are constantly overflowing with creative ideas and are very practical “get ‘er done” types. I think those aligned approaches, and as Andrea said, complimentary skills, bounced off each other in a way that really allowed our visions to not only generate momentum, but sustain it, and share the load of the project in a way that would have been more challenging if our backgrounds were the same.
What are your favourite children’s stories?
AL: My favorite stop-motion kids stories include the Rankin/Bass Rudolph, Nightmare Before Christmas and the Fantastic Mr. Fox. I have an 8-month old daughter, and I have been enjoying reading her the Frog and Toad short stories by Arnold Lobel. Strega Nona by Tomie DePaola is another one of my favorites.
PW: Book-wise, I love the work of Elsa Beskow, Francoise Seignebosc, Mitsumasa Anno, the Ahlbergs, and Faith Ringgold. And this week after Beverly Cleary’s death, I’ve been re-reading all the Ramona books, which are incredibly dear to me.
Animation wise, my favorites would have to be Hedgehog in the Fog by Yuri Norstein, The Czech Year by Jiri Trnka, and the original Moomin stop-motions. Our film’s composer, Peter Michael Davison, also introduced me to Bagpuss, with which I’m now obsessed!
How was your Kickstarter?
AL: The Kickstarter campaign played an essential role in creating Tulip. As anyone who has run a Kickstarter knows, it is a lot of work to launch a campaign and then make good on your campaign promises. So we did not go into it lightly. But since both Phoebe and I have large social media followings, we knew it would be our best bet for financing the film.
We were able to raise the majority of our budget (60K) from the help of 1200 backers. Phoebe designed a bunch of amazing Tulip merch (water bottle, stickers, tote bag) for the various tiers. And we are continuing to sell these items on the online Tulip shop as a way for people to support the film. Despite its challenges, running a Kickstarter was a great way to engage with our audience and give them a way to participate in this project.
If you had wings, where would you fly first?
AL: I would fly to the east coast to visit my family! Like Tulip, I have embarked on an adventure to find where I truly belong, which has taken me far from my family. The circumstances of the past year have made travel all but impossible, but hopefully that will change soon.
PW: I’m going to have to ditto that, I’d love to be able to see far away family and friends again with only a flap of my wings!
Tulip will be playing at the following festivals (all of which start this week): San Francisco Intl Film Festival, Cleveland Intl Film Festival, and Seattle Intl Film Festival. Plus, you can catch the film at this year’s Annecy festival in the Young Audiences Short Films in Competition.