{"id":202890,"date":"2019-02-19T02:10:17","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T07:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=202890"},"modified":"2019-02-19T02:10:17","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T07:10:17","slug":"vancouver-duo-faced-health-scare-while-making-oscar-nominated-animal-behaviour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/19\/vancouver-duo-faced-health-scare-while-making-oscar-nominated-animal-behaviour\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver duo faced health scare while making Oscar nominated ‘Animal Behaviour’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Snowden had contracted a virus that developed into a life-threatening lung infection and needed to undergo risky surgery in their home city of\u00a0Vancouver\u00a0in 2017. (File Photo<\/a>: @DavidFineGuy\/Twitter<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 Husband-and-wife filmmakers Alison Snowden and David Fine had almost finished their now-Oscar-nominated animated short \u201cAnimal Behaviour\u201d when a health crisis sent them into a tailspin.<\/p>\n

Snowden had contracted a virus that developed into a life-threatening lung infection and needed to undergo risky surgery in their home city of\u00a0Vancouver\u00a0in 2017.<\/p>\n

The rare respiratory illness \u201cended up with me needing a double lung transplant,\u201d Snowden recalled in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were almost finished the film and this came out of nowhere,\u201d added Fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transplant was an emergency, sudden life-saving procedure, and we dedicated the film to\u00a0Vancouver\u00a0General Hospital because they did no less than save Alison’s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, Snowden is up and about, gearing up for a trip to Sunday’s Academy Awards for \u201cAnimal Behaviour\u201d with Fine and their daughter.<\/p>\n

The film is nominated for best animated short, a category that includes two other Canadians: Domee Shi for the Pixar production \u201cBao,\u201d and Trevor Jimenez for \u201cWeekends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The category is rounded out by the Irish title \u201cLate Afternoon\u201d by Louise Bagnall and Nuria Gonzalez Blanco, and the Chinese\/American production \u201cOne Small Step\u201d by Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas.<\/p>\n

It’s the fourth such Oscar nomination for Snowden and Fine, who both write, direct and animate.<\/p>\n

Their first nomination was in 1986 for \u201cSecond Class Mail,\u201d their second was in ’88 for \u201cGeorge and Rosemary\u201d and their third was in ’95 for \u201cBob’s Birthday,\u201d which earned them the golden statuette.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of going from a room on your own where you animate to this huge gala with all these famous people was just ridiculous to me,\u201d Snowden said, recalling her first time at the Oscars.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt really terrified, but then you get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnimal Behaviour\u201d is their first animated short since \u201cBob’s Birthday,\u201d which led to their TV series \u201cBob and Margaret\u201d and then the shows \u201cRicky Sprocket, Showbiz Boy\u201d and \u201cShaun the Sheep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Produced by Michael Fukushima at the National Film Board of Canada, the 14-minute \u201cAnimal Behaviour\u201d is a comical look at creatures in a group therapy session, including a co-dependent leech, an aggressive ape, and an obsessive-compulsive cat.<\/p>\n

The filmmakers created it with digital, hand-drawn, 2D animation, with a voice cast from\u00a0Vancouver\u00a0and musicians from Montreal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were thinking how animals have similar issues to people but they don’t get judged by it,\u201d Snowden said. \u201cThey’ll do all kinds of anti-social things and we just think they’re cute or we admire them for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was also a way of showing how hard it is to change, even with therapy, because a lot of your issues are so ingrained.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snowden and Fine are British-Canadian dual citizens who met and started collaborating as students at Britain’s National Film & Television School, where they both graduated in 1984.<\/p>\n

Snowden does most of the character designs and also voices some characters, including the cat in \u201cAnimal Behaviour\u201d and Margaret in \u201cBob and Margaret.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say, ‘Oh my God, how do you work with your spouse?\u201d’ Fine said. \u201cWe met working together, so it’s a natural part of our relationship in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not saying there aren’t stresses sometimes but I feel privileged to work with Alison. I love her talents and so for me, I’m working with someone who brings so much to what I come up with and I like to think I do the same for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes you do!\u201d she replied with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Asked if they’re going to make more films, the two said they’re not sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one took an insane amount of time to make, so who knows,\u201d Fine said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the tendency when you get the Oscar nomination is like ‘What’s next?,’ and we’re just in the mode of enjoying this ride and seeing what happens and figuring out what we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 With files from Laura Kane in\u00a0Vancouver<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Husband-and-wife filmmakers Alison Snowden and David Fine had almost finished their now-Oscar-nominated animated short \u201cAnimal Behaviour\u201d when a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":202892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-victoria-ahearn","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}