An interview with Joanna Quinn

Desert Island Flicks

Animator Joanna Quinn has won just about every major animation award, including Emmys, Baftas and over 90 jury prizes at major animation festivals. She has received two Oscar nominations - for Famous Fred (1998) and The Wife of Bath (1999).

Throughout the Encounters interview, Quinn revealed that her first passion was comic strips in the style of Steve Bell, focusing on political issues. This led to a focus on observational drawing. Today Quinn is interested in the mixture of image and music. She believes that by combining her drawings with music, she can build a new dimension and inspire new meanings. She is also very interested in animation where the image does not tell the whole story; where there are gaps left for the audience fill with their imaginations. This is why she chose Carnival (Susan Young, 1985), as one of the films that has influenced her work.

As part of the movement of emerging women filmmakers in the 80s and early 90s Quinn was inspired by Second Class Mail (Alison Snowden, 1984) and Alternative Fringe (Candy Guard, 1993).

She selected King Size Canary (1947) by Tex Avery because it influenced her own drawing and one of her own favorite films - Britannia. Focusing on style, and because her work is essentially based on the human figure, Quinn affirmed that the cartoon style has not strongly attracted her. She has always tried to make her drawing as close to reality as possible so that the spectator can identify with the characters.

She chose A For Autism (Tim Webb, 1992) because the director gave the opportunity for children with autism to learn how to animate their own drawings. In her own community work she has used animation as a great tool for participants to express themselves.