Terra Incognita (2002)

Terra Incognita is a multiplane cut out animation made from photocopies of 19th century illustrations made during the race to the poles and drawings by Eric Leiser For the puppet performance it was flatrod puppets on a proscenium stage with a screen behind them onto which the animation Terra Incognita is projected Many of the sea monster puppets and ships performed in sync with the animated ones along with splashes of water and powdered chalk to mimic snowfall These techniques came from my time studying puppet theater in Prague in 2002 and learning from Svankmajer and Svankmajerova It was a lot of fun to both animate and to perform live with Jeffreys wonder score At the same time the film comments on the colonial race to claim the Arctic by various countriesa race that in a sense is still going on today but this time again for oiland the murders of the Inuit people who had inhabited the land for millennia