Matja\u017e Moraus Zde\u0161ar<\/strong>) and her iconic bird-characters could be found all over the screening-venues.<\/p>\nTo top things off, the Estonian-born, Angoul\u00eame-based artist also gave a masterclass on the sixth and penultimate day of the festival as part of the AnimatekaPRO program. Although the masterclass didn\u2019t have an official title, Lungren playfully dubbed it \u201cHow to accidentally become an animator without schools or studios\u201d<\/strong> \u2014 adding that she hoped there were students and aspiring animators in attendance.<\/p>\nLundgren\u2019s first brush with directing came when she was hired as a storyboard artist by an advertising agency. This opportunity was presented to her at a time when she was dissatisfied with her seven-year long career as a painter. \u201cI hated drawing at that point,\u201d she recalls, \u201cbut I lied to them…\u201d<\/p>\n
Drawing quickly grew on her and she worked on her very first film during a company retreat. Her technique at the time was bare-bones; in the masterclass, Lundgren explained that she had cobbled-up rotoscoping by taking screenshots of videos at random intervals, adding that she didn\u2019t know what \u201cframes per second\u201d meant at the time. She made these confessions as a way to encourage young animators to show their own work: \u201cThis is my very first animated thing; I’ll show it to you so you don\u2019t have to be embarrassed about your first film any more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The charming results already contain some of her trademarks: drinking, birds, romance, and sexuality. Just as Lundgren was being joined on stage by her young daughter \u2014 fittingly dressed in a bird-adorned sweatshirt \u2014 text appeared on the screen: \u201cThe following film should not be viewed by minors.\u201d Lundgren laughed it off: \u201cShe\u2019s too young to understand.\u201d The masterclass had an irreverent tone, much like her films.<\/p>\n
The debut work impressed Lundgren\u2019s creative director, who, in 2008, assigned her to make animated commercials for one of the agency\u2019s clients. The ads were deemed too \u201cartsy\u201d by the client, but they did spark something in Lundgren: the aspiration to become an animator.<\/p>\n
After meeting an established director at a bar, Lundgren learned about film festivals and decided to animate her first ‘proper’ short: ‘The Great Grey Shrike’ (2009). The six-minute long film illustrates facts about birds with her usual impertinent tone \u2014 depicting starlings drinking alcohol and owls wrapping their tongue around other birds to swallow them, to the strains of piano music by Kristjan Raidna and gentle narration by Inge Ting. ‘The Great Grey Shrike’ dispenses with rotoscoping and is more technically advanced than Lundgren\u2019s previous works, although it remains fairly simple.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Watch ‘The Great Grey Shrike’<\/em><\/h4>\n