NEWS

Marleen Valien delivers with Made For Hoomans

Marleen Valien picked up a Gold Screen in the Film School (up to 6 mins) and Animation category for her short films, Made for Hoomans at this year’s YDA. Here, she discusses the inspiration behind the film, the complexity of stop-motion animation and an advertising future perhaps?

 

How did you get into directing?

When I was young I didn’t really get what a director was doing. So I never really thought of being one myself. But I was always interested in filmmaking. And one day I decided to apply to a film university and I got in. I’m super happy about that because I didn’t even know if I was good or talented enough.

 

What was the inspiration behind Made For Hoomans?

Sadly it was the climate crisis. We wrote a short film about this topic in the first place but it didn’t work out. It got too big for a stop motion film and the timing just wasn’t right. So we decided to shoot a short advertising instead but our characters Frank, Jean and Werner based on the characters who we have already written for our narrative short.

We liked the thought of them doing an advertisement for a sustainable product that doesn’t harm animals. And hopefully someday we will have the possibility to shoot the stop motion short we originally planned.

How long was the shoot and what was the most challenging aspect of the project?

The shoot took us two to three months and the most challenging aspect about that was to stick to the project with the passion it deserved for every single day.

 

What have you learned during the process of making the film?

That stop motion is complex but amazing. And that an amazing team is an amazing team <3.

What does it mean to you to win a YDA and what can we expect to see from you in future?

It’s super cool to win the YDA and I hope I’ll get the opportunity to make more movies and advertisements.

Right now I’m writing my first feature and preparing an advertisement.

 

Do you plan to work in the advertising industry and if so, what most excites you about that prospect?

Yes. I think there is always new stuff coming around. So it’s interesting where the future of advertisements will be heading. I think the advertisement industry has a lot of power to change things, to address topics of all matters. And we sure need more women to do that, because there aren’t many of them… Yet.

Interview by Daniel Huntley shots

Other News

Jing Ai Ng Delta

Jing Ai Ng tells us how a passion for the Delta Chinese community led to a YDA

Winning Gold in the Passion Project category, Jing Ai Ng’s Asian American folk story Delta is  More…

EDI - Jan Vrhovnik

Jan Vrhovnik on turning back the clock for a YDA win

With Edi, Jan Vrhovnik’s glorious tribute to his childhood hero, the filmmaker drew upon his cinematography  More…

Florian Reittner – The Giving Dead

​Florian Reittner​​’s helping hand

Director Florian Reittner picked up a Gold Screen in the Super Short category. Here, he explains how  More…

Aziz Zoromba’s instinctual storytelling

After his short film, Simo, picked up Gold in the Short Film (10 minutes or  More…

Victoria Singh-Thompson on her Lolita inspired winning short

Director Victoria Singh-Thompson chats to Izzy Ashton about her film 14 in February which scooped a YDA  More…

Tara O’Callaghan talks Call Me Mommy

Director Tara O’Callaghan speaks with Izzy Ashton about her Special Jury Prize winning film Call Me Mommy, which also  More…