It’s fair to say that Hungarian born animator, Katalin Egely, is like part of the furniture at the Femme Filmmakers Festival. This year marks her third visit to the online event, and fourth film submission with When It Comes From the Earth.
Egely first came to the festival in 2018 where her majestic short animation, Land Without Evil, won four prizes including the Gold Sovereign for best film. This year we welcome the filmmaker’s new short, When It Comes From the Earth, and I was first in line to speak to this incredible talent.
How did you cope through lockdown? What difficulties did you overcome?
During lockdown I made El Mago Georges and honestly I was working so focused that I didn’t really realize what was happening around me. I have mixed feelings… I think there were many things that we (people) should have learned from that period but obviously, we haven’t… I felt really sorry for young people, doing school online is not good, and not being able to go out is not good, but I, personally only missed physical connection in general.
Do you have friends in the film business, not necessarily animators, could be actors, technical staff, live action directors etc?
I have documentary filmmaker friends mostly, cinematographers, and musicians… all my friends are artists since I studied art in my whole life (ceramic design, leather design, scenography, animation, documentary filmmaking)…
When It Comes From the Earth is another wonderful short film from you. How do you dream up this idea? Where do you start when making a film like this?
In this case, the musicians (Ruth and Sebastian from Canticuénticos) also had some ideas, I talked with them on the phone and we built together the concept. Maybe I had more ideas about the animation but they helped me to keep together the story. I appreciate a lot working with super nice people who are open to creating together still giving me space and trust.
What materials did you use for this film? Is everything handmade and crafted? Do you have a lot of art materials scattered about your house?
Always everything is handmade. (laughs) I’ve been building (literally) a studio at my place, I have one room for stop motion and another for drawing animation, and a pretty impressive quantity of tools. I used paper, glue, watercolor, and acrylic paintings. I like to have lots of space and organize everything, and anything that I can recycle or reuse, I do. For example, some wood that I still have from the construction I use to print texture on the papers. In an ideal world where I had more time, I would make papier-maché stuff from all the paper that I can’t use anymore for animation.
Do you sketch and write ideas when you are out and not working? Take photographs? Record messages on your phone? How do you lock your creative ideas down?
I keep everything in my brain which makes it very busy… sometimes it’s hard to make the easiest everyday tasks because of thinking about my projects, especially when I have several. Sometimes I am afraid of dying on my bike because instead of watching the cars I am thinking of the animation. (laughs) But before starting any animation of course I need to convert into drawings all my thoughts.
What other animators are you inspired by?
I don’t watch online almost anything, only at festivals, and if I am lucky I can see some really inspiring ones. but it is not easy to impress me. This summer I saw a really amazing animation from Iran, The fourth wall. Surely one of the most amazing pieces I’ve ever seen.
Thinking about the young people out there who want to make animated films – what advice would you give them? What help would they need? Dos and don’ts?
Don’t do it! Find a well paid easy job! I am kidding… (laughs) If someone needs four dimensions for expression and likes to work hard, it’s the best choice. It is the most complex creation process, the director has to make the story, the personality and movements of the characters, the rhythm, all the design, and sometimes even the sound.
Women have won Best Director Oscar two years in a row now. How important is it that Hollywood recognises female filmmakers to this scale?
I am happy to hear that, I am not following the Oscars or Hollywood, it doesn’t have to do with quality. But I do think, of course, that women still don’t have the same chance in many professions as men. It is painful, ridiculous, sad, and disappointing that in 2022 it is not just still a topic, but women’s rights are less and less even in the “first world” countries. And Hungary is surely one of the worst place for women! This is a topic I could tell many things about but I will stop myself here…
How do you think the opportunities for women in the industry have change over the years?
Since animation is one of the easiest jobs to make remotely, luckily technology helps to have the same chances for everybody. I don’t know about studios and big projects, I always moved in the independent field and pretty much on my own path.
What is next for you? Travel? A new film for our festival next year? Any plans with family or friends?
I made a cutout music video for Montoya in May but it isn’t published yet. Now I am working on the second music video for Canticuénticos but this time it’s watercolor and not cumbia but a beautiful chacarera (North Argentinian folk music).
I still have two projects after this, but in November I will go back to Peru and start to work on a full-length watercolor animation which will take a few years…wow! But I will travel between Hungary and Peru, even though the bigger part of the production I want to make there. Diego, my good friend, makes wonderful documentaries with his brother Alvaro, who wrote the script of this film and they asked me to be the director of the animation (and interpret first the script for animation). I am so excited!
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