4 minute read
New Cats on the Block
As the spirited short animation Miisufy prepares to screen at Sundance and Clermont-Ferrand, director Liisi Grünberg and producer Aurelia Aasa reveal how the story of a virtual cat living inside an app that refuses to yield to domestication came to life.
By Mirjam Mikk/EFI
How did the idea of Miisufy come about and develop?
Aurelia: I came across Liisi’s drawings on Instagram, fragments from a comic she was working on, and I reached out to her. Liisi’s background in illustration stands out in her work, as animation isn’t usually so detailed. No one typically draws different patterns on the characters’ dresses, for example, so it is quite rare. Regarding the story, what attracted me in Liisi’s illustrations was the complicated apocalyptic world, but most importantly, the cats! We began working with the cats and brainstorming an interesting background story for them.
Liisi: The comic initially focused on A.I. and a world evolving based on people’s media usage and behaviours. It developed into cats because everyone on the internet loves cats. We then took these characters and started brainstorming story ideas. For me, the film’s story is not so much about A.I., but rather the relationship between a person and their smartphone.
Aurelia: I’d like to add that at the film’s core is how willingly we spend so much time in that space without truly seeing ourselves from the side. This perspective is really interesting. We see how the digital pet sees us.
Liisi, this was your directorial debut. How did you approach the story, what did you especially concentrate on?
Liisi: Drawing from my experience designing characters in comics, I applied some approaches and techniques into the animation. The story world we created was more extensive than we could fit into the short film. We initially discussed much more about the world the cats live in and the life of the main character. What we couldn’t tell explicitly, we hinted at through background and environments, suggesting there’s more going on than we see in the plot. It was like solving a puzzle, and I enjoy mysteries. How to connect scenes organically was a very interesting problem-solving exercise.
You used Blender, free animation software?
Liisi: Accessible software for making animation is amazing. I wanted to use freeware, and since I needed to do digital cutout animation to execute the drawings, Blender seemed like the best choice.
The film’s core is how willingly we spend so much time in that space without truly seeing ourselves from the side .
Aurelia, you had immense successes with Sierra (dir. Sander Joon, 2022), your first production. Was it easy or, on the contrary, tough, to move onto Miisufy?
Aurelia: Actually, we were developing Miisufy parallel to when Sierra was in production. And when Sierra was travelling the world, we were making Miisufy. Each project is different, but what is similar in my approach is a sense of humour and a distinct visual style that I try to bring by finding authors who capture that. When we started working on Miisufy’s sound and releasing the film, it was during the time I was eating crispy chicken in bed because we didn’t get an Oscars nomination for Sierra. (chuckles) It was an emotionally tough period, but it pushed me to do something. Now, going to Sundance and Clermont-Ferrand makes it worth getting out of bed.
Miisufy has already screened in interesting programmes at other great festivals as well, right?
Aurelia: Yes. One of the best programmes was in Finland (Helsinki IFF –Love & Anarchy) where Miisufy was shown with other technology-themed films, creating a really good vibe. All the films complemented each other.
Do you have any plans to develop the story-world of Miisufy or perhaps anything else in the works?
Aurelia: I currently have a short animation Yummy (dir. Martinus Klemet) in the works, and I’m developing a feature animation with director Sander Joon (Sierra). Regarding Miisufy...
Liisi: A computer game?
Aurelia: Yeah, we should do a computer game. (chuckles) In the very beginning, when we started to develop the story, I thought it had the potential to be a series, allowing us to delve more into each of the cats’ psyches.
So, we might get a chance to delve into Miisufy universe in the future?
Liisi: Of course. Always.
Aurelia: But we’ll see what the future has in store fo us. Maybe we’ll start cracking on something completely new together.
