Erica Russell (born 1951) is a New Zealand-born film animator.
Life and career
Russell was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1951.
Her family emigrated to South Africa in 1953, where she grew up with a fascination for traditional customs, music and dance. In 1972 she moved to London and worked with animators
Richard Williams,
Gerald Scarfe
Gerald Anthony Scarfe (born 1 June 1936) is an English cartoonist and illustrator. He has worked as editorial cartoonist for ''The Sunday Times'' and illustrator for ''The New Yorker''.
His other work includes graphics for rock group Pink Flo ...
and Disney's
Art Babbitt
Arthur Harold Babitsky (October 8, 1907 – March 4, 1992), better known as Art Babbitt, was an American animator, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He received over 80 awards as an animation director and animator, and al ...
.
She worked at
Rocky Morton
Rocky Morton (born 1955) is an English director. He is the co-creator of the TV series ''Max Headroom'' and co-director of the 1993 Hollywood Pictures film ''Super Mario Bros''. Various music videos by Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads, Gravity Kills, ...
's Cucumber Studios, where she worked with Morton and
Annabel Jankel
Annabel Jankel (born 1 June 1955), also known as AJ Jankel, is a British film and TV director who first came to prominence as a music video director and the co-creator of the pioneering cyber-character Max Headroom and as co-director of the film ...
on music videos and animations for television.
Russell eventually opened her own studio, named Eyeworks, and worked on commercial projects such as a campaign for the launch of Virgin Megastores.
Her first solo project was ''Feet of Song'' in 1988, which became part of a trilogy of dance films; it was followed by ''Triangle'' (1994) and ''SOMA'' (2001). All three films were funded by
Channel 4, a British television company.
In 1992, Russell opened her own production company, Gingco.
Accolades
Russell's film ''Triangle'' was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The short film ''Our Girl'', on which Russell worked as animator and designer, won the Bronze World Medal at the
New York Festivals
New York Festivals, are a collection of related annual arts and media awards based in New York City. The awards include the New York Festivals Advertising Awards, "Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness" AME Awards, Bowery Awards, Global Awards, R ...
in 2015.
See also
*
Independent animation
*
Cinema of New Zealand
References
External links
*
Triangle' on
YouTubeExcerpt of aforementioned film on VimeoErica Russel
on IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Erica
Living people
New Zealand emigrants to South Africa
1951 births
New Zealand animators
New Zealand animated film directors
Women animated film directors
New Zealand women film directors
New Zealand women animators