MAST awards its 2019 Voices Seen Grand Prize to 6 animators, including Daniel Bruson for Me, by J-Money.
"Me" is a poem written and recited by Ja'Lantea, a four year old boy who feels a new day should come with his new name: J-Money. It's part of Preschool Poets, a series of eight short animated films based on poems composed by four and five year olds.
Conceived and produced by artist and poetry teacher Nancy Kangas and filmmaker Josh Kun, the project is based on Nancy's work with preschoolers at Columbus Early Learning Center, in Ohio. They selected eight beautiful, startling poems to be recited by the children and adapted by animation artists from around the world.
It's a traditional 2d animation painted frame by frame with acrylic inks, which was then composed digitally.
The film was awarded a Vimeo Staff Pick and has been screened in several festivals in the US and abroad.