In the enchanting, animated film Judy’s Garden, a woman is confronted by death and taken on a journey through her past. The garden is shown as a cosmic arena of continuous death and renewal, one which all living things, including the gardener herself, are a part of. The film is an ode to these cycles in the natural world and a meditation on what it means to be alive.
Here is my interview with Judy’s Garden Director Evie Metz:
Nigrin: Your lovely stop motion animated film Judy’s Garden is an ode the natural cycles of life and death. Tell us a bit about the history behind making this film and how you hope it connects with viewers.
Metz: In the early stages of developing the film, I knew I wanted to use the medium of stop-motion animation with all of its appeal and associations of lightheartedness and the ability to create a level of distanced directness to represent people and places that are not necessarily real in an effort to tackle larger complex questions about existence. My collaborator, Nick Daly, who created an original composition for the film and executed the soundscape, is also the co-driving force behind structuring the story. We had many conversations that led to the events in the film which represent the relationships between humans, animals, and nature through their shared microcosm-macrocosm. It is partly fictional, part loosely inspired by real events, people, and places happening around us. Some of the direct references which took shape in the film include my relationship to an abundance of nature having grown up in South Florida, as well as my dad who cares for his fruit trees, and continuing to come to terms with higher loss of life within our personal lives as well as on a global scale due to recent events including the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope it connects with viewers by encouraging them to reflect on their own relationship with the inevitable cycles of life and death. The fragmentary style of the film shifts between these cycles as seen on various scales including as minute as ants in the dirt, to the animal kingdom, humans, and beyond earth to inspire ideas about a greater interconnectedness amongst us all.
Nigrin: Tell us about the process for making your film.
Metz: The process for making this film was very involved, as tends to be the case with most animations. Ours is unique in that there is not a crew of people but rather just us two. I believe many projects benefit from a team of skilled artists uniting their talent to create something greater than one individual perhaps can. With that said, I’m personally drawn to the process of animation in my own projects for the ability as an artist to use my hands across all aspects of the creation to build an immersive experience. Doing so allows the work to then be as unique as possible in terms of artistry, vision, and style. Particularly for a film about the intimacy and vulnerability of one’s fingerprint within the greater cosmos, approaching this animation process independently by shifting hats of production felt impactful to leave my imprint. Nick and I work together throughout the entire process in terms of concept, story development, and the overall shaping of the final product. Some of our research for this story was influenced by African and South American creation myths.
When it comes to world building and fabrication, I physically construct the set design, every tangible object/prop, and the puppets. It is a slow building process that requires an immense amount of trust and patience. I was also teaching myself many new techniques and materials, while also experimenting and trying to invent my own methods wherever possible. The puppets in my previous animated films have been primarily clay and this is my first film to utilize silicone. This required much trial and error, as I improved my skills in sculpting characters in clay, mold making, and silicone casting with some advanced capabilities of mouth movement.
I’m also the cinematographer, animator, and editor, so visually I’m responsible for the life those aspects bring to the production. Although intense, I prefer to have as long of stretches as possible to animate for hours on end, from morning to night or vice versa, to indulge in the performative process. I’m interested in the transference of energy from myself, through my fingertips, to my characters. Throughout the animation process, Nick and I are constantly in conversation about the performance of the scene and what’s working versus what I might start over and redo. In the final months of animation, Nick began composing the soundscape. His process shares many similarities with my fabrication and world building in that he begins with an empty sonic canvas and then sculpts the sound with various instruments, scales, and progressions that shape the experience. Nick is also an avid reader and researcher who pulls inspiration from an array of diverse media, cultures and time periods. For example, a few of those influences include klezmer, South Asian classical music, stride piano, cartoon music, exotica, Carl Orff & Gunild Keetman’s Schulwerk, and baroque music.
One of the many attributes I admire about the sounds in this film is the way they are honed so closely to the direct actions of the characters as well as the emotional experience as a way to reveal the characters interiority. There is no dialogue in the film but the sound becomes a language in and of itself. One of the storytelling elements Nick and I discussed, and which you can see most evidently in the opening of the film, was an idea of constantly being pulled forward in time at a ceaseless pace. This metaphorically represents the unstopping nature of time, no matter what events take place, time continues on, for better or worse. The sound evokes this quality as well in its musical rhythm.
Nigrin: Why did you name it Judy’s Garden? Is there someone of significance with that name you wanted to evoke?
Metz: We wanted the title to emphasize the role of the garden as a setting to examine nurturing oneself and their environment, caring for and giving back to something greater than oneself through the act of gardening, and as the ebb and flow of life and death. It was also an opportunity to allude to the oneness of the human character to infer that although there are three human puppets in the film, they all represent the same person at different times in her life. The structure of the story begins at the end of her life, moves back in time to her youth, and ends with her as an infant.
We are also both fans of Bruce Bickford’s masterpiece Prometheus’ Garden. By recentering our narrative from a woman’s point of view, our story more so reflects notions of mother nature and the cycles of life as intertwined with a woman's ability to produce or to be a mother of life. The name Judy was initially inspired by our neighbor who we’ve grown to know over the past several years. I’m also interested in the origins of the name Judy and felt those meanings fit the film as well. Over time through storytelling, our neighbor Judy has shared with us fragments of her lifetime before we met her. This includes a lifetime with her husband who has now passed away, raising her daughter who now has a family of her own, and other memories that her home and backyard garden hold in their physical presence. As she ages and faces some health challenges, the flowers and trees she once planted as seeds go dormant every Winter and return in full blossom each Spring as they continue to grow anew. I see her garden as a sense of stability throughout the various changes in her life as well as something she nurtures that hopefully one day will carry on her legacy and memories.
Nigrin: Were there any obstacles or conundrums you faced while making your film?
Metz: Plenty! Balancing multiple jobs with the time and emotional demands required in taking on such an extensive process creates constant challenges to work through. I had many technical and material failures with the mold making process, but eventually each time I picked myself back up and started again. This process really requires endurance, persistence, and perseverance.
Nigrin: What was the scene that you enjoyed most filming?
Metz: The scene with Judy and the skeleton was particularly intense and demanding but very immersive for me in its action-oriented climax. I practically animated the scene from start to finish because I became so embodied in their exchange. It is one of my favorite cinematic moments as well, with the glowing lighting emerging from the center of the earth. I also ended up cutting a hole in the center of my set to achieve that, which was an interesting challenge.
Nigrin: Are there any memorable stories while you made this film or any other info about your film you would like to relay to us?
Metz: Previously, I’ve most directly been involved with gardening through my parents' fruit trees and plants, but during the last Summer I spent animating this film I managed my own small garden. I didn’t intend for the timing to align this way, but after so much time building Judy’s colorful and luscious miniature garden in the film it began to mirror my own as tall sunflowers, chamomile, lavender, and zinnia’s blossomed and I harvested tomatoes and blueberries for my first time. As my garden came to life, the film process came to a close. The cycles!
Judy’s Garden screens at the 2024 New Jersey International Film Festival on Sunday, June 2 as part of Shorts Program #1. The film will be available for screening online for 24 hours on its showdate and will then be shown in-person at 5:00 PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ. Tickets are available for purchase here.
The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center, in association with the Rutgers University Program in Cinema Studies, presents the 2024 New Jersey International Film Festival which marks its 29th Anniversary. The NJIFF competition will be taking place on the Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between May 31 - June 9, 2024 and will be a hybrid one with online as well as in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VOD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person screenings. The in-person screenings will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 5PM or 7PM on their show date. Note: The Screenings on June 1 will be in Milledoler Hall #100/ Rutgers University, 520 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ. Plus, The NJIFF is very proud to announce that acclaimed singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler will be in concert on Saturday, June 15 in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ at 7PM. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program; General Admission Marissa Nadler Concert Ticket=$25.
For more info go here: https://2024newjerseyinternationalfilmfestival.eventive.org/welcome
