Anna Samo is a NYC-based animator, teacher and one of the founders of Animation Speak/Easy.
Anna’s films have been screened and won awards at highly acclaimed festivals around the globe such as Berlin Film Festival – Berlinale, Annecy Film Festival, Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Films, Animafest Zagreb, Aspen Shortsfest, Sundance and Palm Springs, among others.
Her most recent film, The Wild-Tempered Clavier, made it to the Academy Awards short list and we had a few questions.
This conversation was done by email.
Hi, Anna.
For this interview I’d like to talk about the process of getting your film out there.
Were festivals the first step in showing your film to the public, getting a distributor, or just putting it up on a streaming service like YouTube?
I studied animation in Germany and I still have access to some of the funding opportunities there. Most of my films are produced by a production company that is based in Germany. Germany has a wonderful federal funding system that rewards previous successes. So when one of my films screens at certain festivals or wins certain awards, I will qualify for some automatic funding for my next project. It is never a large sum of money, but it is enough to get a new film started. Once the film is done, festivals are always the first step to get my films out into the world. Usually I also have a sales agent who generates some sales of the film. In this case the film will not be online on free platforms for some time. Now that so many films are easily available, it is very hard to reach your audience if you just release the film online. It is helpful if the film has already been on the festival circuit and potentially even won some awards before it is released online. Besides, my films are made for a big screen and are much better to be seen in a theater than on a laptop or phone.
When your film has been selected, how do you decide if you’re going to attend the festival?
It is always a tricky thing between finding the time and the resources to attend festivals: Some festivals provide accommodation and cover at least part of the travel expenses; in which case I would make an effort to go. I try especially hard to attend the festivals that I have a long-standing relationship with, like Annecy, Stuttgart and some others. My current film played in over 30 festivals in the past year and I only went to four. It used to be different when I was still based in Europe (and did not have children) and I really miss attending more festivals, because often it is the only way for me to interact with the audience and to meet old friends and colleagues.
The Oscar is the most well-known film award in the world. How did you find out about making the Short List, what type of emotions, I’m sure they ranged from euphoria to dread, did you feel?
And what did you do to make it to the next step? Did you seek out advice from past nominees/winners?
I found out about the Short List while folding laundry. I received a congratulations text from a friend, who is a member of the Academy and then I googled the results. It was very exciting of course. The next phase was quite stressful, especially since it collided with the end of the year holidays. We had to find financial support for promotion, prepare interviews and materials for social media and so on, all of it during our winter break family vacation. I worked with a wonderful publicist, who guided me through this stage.
While the publicity campaign was in full swing and I was busy, it was very exhilarating. It was also wonderful to see my friends and family being proud of me. Then the wait started and the announcement deadline got pushed several times following the terrible fires that devastated LA. This was probably the most dreadful time, when I just wanted it all to be over. On the morning that the nominations were announced and we discovered, that the film did not make it to the next stage a pipe burst in our house and lots of water run through the floor and rained onto my animation table. That was very cathartic. Luckily, we noticed it soon enough and none of the equipment got seriously damaged.
I noticed on your website that you’ve been interviewed multiple times. How fun is that?
I like giving interviews, but it is also a lot of work. A few years ago, when “The Opposites Game” qualified for the Oscars, my co-director Lisa LaBracio and me were interviewed for different outlets about the film. It was fun, because often we would talk to the journalists either in person, or on Zoom and there was a kind of conversation going between us and the interviewer. It was also easier, because I knew that if I forgot something, or did not express something clear enough, Lisa would jump in and help me out. With “The Wild-Tempered Clavier” my experience was very different, because most of the interviews were just questions sent over email. This of course has some advantages, because you have more control over what you say and how you organize your thoughts in a written form, but for me it is less enjoyable, because the improvisational aspect and a conversational aspect of giving an interview in person is missing.
What are your feelings on festivals versus awards? Is getting your film seen and meeting people the most rewarding part of authorship? Does winning awards open doors both creatively and professionally that otherwise would not have happened?
For me being able to go to a screening of my film and have some exchange with the audience is the most important part. I spend so much time alone while making the film, that a possibility to talk to people about it feels very rewarding and stimulating. Even just seeing the film in a space filled with other human beings makes it a completely different experience for me. Receiving awards is nice and is definitely helpful for future grants and funding opportunities. As an artist you always have to have some external recognition of the value of your work to be able to secure support for your next projects. So, awards are definitely important, but as a filmmaker I learn much more from having the audience’s reaction to a film, than from receiving an award for it.