One of the questions I get asked most often from readers and the like involves the kinds of stories I most enjoy covering. This column has seen a wealth of reporting over time on the nexus between disability, technology, and Hollywood. The reason for this is twofold. One, the topic is relevant to my beat so long as tech companies insist on leveraging their war chests to roll their own streaming video services. And two, marginalized communities (such as the disability community) are being earnestly and authentically depicted on screen with increased frequency.
To name one example, early last month I posted an interview with the showrunners behind Netflix’s new animated series Mech Cadets, about a group of young space cadets who, with the help of robots, defend the galaxy from aliens. One of the galactic freedom fighters has a limb difference and is voiced by someone with a limb difference. And behind the scenes, the show’s writers’ room includes a disabled person.
As a lifelong disabled person who very much likes watching television and movies, this representation matters as much to me personally as it matters being relevant journalistic fodder for posting to this space.
So, yes, I immensely enjoy writing about these types of synergies.
So it goes with the new animated short film Mushka.
The 28-minute affair, set in the 1970s, tells the story of Sarah, a young Ukrainian girl who raises an orphaned Siberian tiger she names Mushka after noticing a M-shaped birthmark on his forehead. (The name alludes to a Russian term of endearment.) After learning of a plot hatched by some people in her village to murder Mushka, she returns him to the spot in the forest where she first encountered him. The conceit is Sarah hopes Mushka will learn to be a wild creature and, accordingly, stay far away from humans—particularly the ones who want to end his life.
Mushka is currently making the rounds on the festival circuit.
Mushka marks the directorial debut of Andreas Deja. Deja, who in 2015 was named a Disney Legend for his work overseeing the artwork in animated classics like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, and others, served as lead animator for the hand-drawn Mushka. In a recent interview conducted via email, Deja told me making his directorial debut is “very special” and the opportunity has exposed him with new opportunities to learn and grow. Even after a storied career working at Disney for more than three decades, there’s still much to do and learn.
“I believe you’re never too old or experienced to grow,” Deja said of being a first-time director on Mushka. “Working on big studio animated films at Disney or any studio, you are responsible for one character and you are the actor for that character. It’s a big job, but as a director, you get to make the switch into storytelling and becoming a filmmaker that oversees everything. That was an absolutely huge challenge for me. A little scary at the beginning, but very rewarding in the end. I can’t overemphasize the joy of being involved in every single aspect of the filmmaking, from storyboarding to voice recording to animation, to color, to art direction, to final sound mix. The expansiveness of this was all brand-new to me and has been a fantastic experience.”
Asked about Hollywood’s increased efforts to showcase people from marginalized and underrepresented groups, Deja told me he notices a “big effort” to do so. He cited his work on Mushka, saying although the production team is small, “we’re proud to count great women artists in leading roles.” Deja pointed to Natalie Francioni-Karp, responsible for painting the majority of the backgrounds, and number two animator Courtney Di Paola, a budding young animator who, according to Deja, “basically learned this type of animation on the film and has gone on to the beginnings of what I believe will be a great studio career.”
“We are very proud to have these women in leading positions,” Deja said.
Tanner Beard, who voices Sarah’s father in the film, seconded Deja’s sentiments on diversity in Hollywood. In an interview concurrent to Deja’s over email, Beard told me “there have been many positive steps taken to authentically represent marginalized people especially in the last decade, especially in the series and episodic space.”
Beard, a Texas-born actor and filmmaker for the last two decades, became involved with Mushka when, during the shooting of a documentary, he’d fool around by doing different voices on set. The film’s director of photography, who happens to be a producer on Mushka, asked if he’d be interested in doing voice work for it.
Asked about what makes Mushka special, Beard said he “had a blast” working on the film. He shared his admiration of Deja, telling me “it was so incredible” to have had the opportunity to work alongside a literal legend. Beard also spoke effusively of doing the voice acting, saying “it’s so fun” to do—sometimes working in sweatpants even—and be able to adopt a completely different persona from his own for a little while.
Besides the timelessness of the hand-drawn artwork, Beard said Mushka should tug at the heartstrings due to how it “conveys the spectrum of compassion we have to other living things—and them to us—and the hostility that can happen in that spectrum as well.” This is especially poignant, he added, when “viewed through the eyes of a child.”
At a high level, the concept of compassion and empathy is ultimately the driving emotion behind any DEI initiative, whether in entertainment or tech or any other industry. In tech, for instance, the point of accessibility and assistive technology is to give disabled people access to the devices everyone knows and loves. That’s the practical application. From the humanistic standpoint, the point of accessibility and assistive tech—particularly driven by those who build such tools—is precisely that of compassion. To advocate for better diversity and inclusion, in tech or anything else, is ultimately an act of compassion by its staunchest allies.
Of course, technology played a central role in seeing Mushka from conception to fruition. Deja said the biggest role technology played for him is communicatively. As an artist and animator, the animation process, Deja said, was made easier because “animation teams now work all over the world together.” Videoconferencing apps like Skype and Zoom made it “so easy” for Deja to collaborate with his Berlin-based storyboard partner and the special effects team based in Paris. “It’s a great world to have these technologies of communication at hand,” Deja said. He added technology’s power and ubiquity has meant the costs associated with making short films have become appreciably lower. “Even if you have an idea for a two-minute short film, just do it,” he said. “It’s all possible. It’s not expensive. It doesn’t have to be 35-millimeter film anymore, which was so super expensive way back when I started.”
For his part, Beard said in context of representation, the rise of social media and its immediacy has proven instrumental in “seeing stories from all over the globe a lot more than we were 10 or 20 years ago.”
Aside from the obvious emotional lessons, Deja hopes, in a world dominated by CGI, people will watch Mushka and come away appreciating “the magical power in animated drawings” and their ability to “come alive to thrill and move audiences.” Deja told me he’s already heard from people about this during screenings, telling me “I’m always hearing how much people have missed the hand-drawn art and that our film has reminded people of the magic and the power of animated drawings and how they have so much meaning to everybody’s youth.”
Looking towards the future, Deja’s overarching goal is simple: he wants to “inspire” aspiring animators and filmmakers to follow their dreams and “encourage them to pursue their dreams and their own projects and not to be afraid to go for it.” Ultimately, Deja wants to remind people that no matter who someone is or where they come from, the opportunity is there to harness one’s talents to fulfill their passions.
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