Selkie the Seal Woman
SELKIE is a fairy-doc - an experimental film blending stop motion animation of live actors and 2D puppets; hand drawn characters and backgrounds, photo collages and documentary. It combines stories of three women: a mythical Selkie – woman-seal from an old Irish fairytale; a hatmaker Bridget Cleary burned in 1895 by her husband who thought she had turned into a changeling and a story of Annie Hogg, Bridget’s great great grandniece who is an artist living in Tipperary, Ireland today with her dog Archie, making art of charred objects, like roots and animal bones.
Irina Patkanian - Writer, Director, Editor (Russia/NYC)
Marion Schoevaert - Director, Art Director (France/NYC)
Denise Conroy Artist Illustrator (Ireland)
Finola Merivale - Composer, Pianist, Sound Artist (Ireland/NYC)
Masha Yukhananov Animator (Russia /NYC)
Elena Kalkova, Visual Editing, Collage artist, (Russia/NYC)
featuring Annie Hogg (Ireland) as herself; Maclaine Lowery as Selkie
Gus Ford - photography; Jennah Camara -After Effect; Katie Fearon (research)
Our team!
And Fíóna was her name. Like all seals, she was born with her eyes open. Like all girls, her eyes had lashes and were already hiding secrets.
Long, long ago, in the west of the world, on a slim patch of sand between the sea and the sky, a little selkie was born
Once upon a time, in the west of the world, a little selkie was born — half-girl, half-seal. And Fíóna was her name.
By day, Fíóna never left the house, for Ronan told her: “Beyond these walls there prowl monsters and fairies who feast upon women. A good woman’s life is within the home”
Her heart was broken like a shell dashed upon rock.
Bridget Cleary, twenty-six, burned in her own bed by her husband who branded her a fairy witch.
And when the jar was shattered, the sea made its judgment.