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Conversations with a whale

Anna Samo
Germany 2020 / 9’ / v.o. sott. ita / national preview

In this love letter to artists, their art and its audience, one filmmaker is confronted with rejection after rejection until at last a beautiful fig tree bears sweet fruits. Conversations with a Whale was created directly under the camera lens, using various analogue animation techniques.

Direction: Anna Samo
Screenplay: Anna Samo
Cinematographers: Tom Bergmann
Editing: Tom Bergmann
Music: Merche Blasco

Anna Samo

Anna Samo was born in 1980 in Moscow, Russia. On her first animation job in Moscow she scanned and colored hand drawn animation for director Ivan Maximov. For the first time she witnessed how thousands of separated drawings put together suddenly turn into a living character. She experienced the tickling feeling of surprise and wonder. This feeling has not left her ever since. Anna studied animation in Moscow and Berlin. She was a master student with Professor Gil Alkabetz who encouraged her to create very personal work and to strive for her own authentic voice. As an independent filmmaker she uses a variety of analogue animation techniques to create her own films. With her husband and two kids Anna relocated to the US in 2013. Anna’s films have been screened and won awards at highly acclaimed film festivals around the globe such as Berlin Film Festival -Berlinale, Annecy Film Festival, Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Films, Animafest Zagreb, Aspen Shortsfest, Sundance and Palm Springs, among others. Anna lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.