VIEWERS can travel back in time and explore wild Ireland through the visuals and storytelling of Wolfwalkers, which combines children’s folk tales with an empowering rewrite of Irish history.
The latest film from Kilkenny animation studio Cartoon Saloon, the company behind Song of the Sea, The Secret of Kells and The Breadwinner – all of which were nominated for Oscars – tells the story of Robyn (voiced by Honor Kneafsey), a young English girl brought to Ireland with her father (Sean Bean) under the orders of the Lord Protector (Simon McBurney).
He is set on wiping out the wolves that roam the woods beyond the city walls of Kilkenny.
As a girl, Robyn is expected to stay at home doing chores in the kitchen, but the determined Robyn sneaks out into the forest where she meets Mebh (Eva Whittaker), a feisty, wild-haired girl who lives alone with her mother Moll (Maria Doyle Kennedy).
They are the last two remaining wolfwalkers – mythical people who possess the ability to transform themselves into wolves, command other wolves and heal wounds.
After Mebh accidentally bites Robyn, she too acquires the magical powers of a wolfwalker and turns into one of the beasts her father is trying to capture and destroy.
The film is co-directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, who both grew up in Kilkenny, though Moore is originally from Newry, and first came up with the idea seven years ago.
“The fact that there were wolves in Ireland was surprising to me. Even more surprising was that Ireland was called Wolf Land because the English saw it as so uncivilised, savage and wild with more wolves here than people,” says 43-year-old Moore.
“In Oliver Cromwell’s time there had been a campaign to clear them and I thought it would be an interesting to revisit this era since it’s sad how the folklore dies with the creatures.”
Moore quietly made his mark in the global field of animation with his 2009 debut feature The Secret of Kells, about the reaction of the celebrated ninth-century manuscript, Oscar nominated the next year for best animated feature. A second followed, his folk tale Song of the Sea in 2014, about selkies.
“I told that story because I was disturbed by the attitudes I was seeing towards seals. We lose something of ourselves when we loose these stories,” says Moore who visited a wolf sanctuary in Alberta, Canada, as part of his research for Wolfwalkers.
As the film conveys an environmental message about species extinction and forest destruction, I ask Moore, might Robyn be based on the Swedish teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg?
“Greta is an impressive young lady but we had written it long before she came to the fore. But when you see our little Robyn with braids there definitely does seem to be a parallel,” he laughs.
The film also reminds viewers about the importance of difference, acceptance, and looking beyond our immediate needs.
“I remember being in the playground up north in Warrenpoint when I was about four or five playing with another kid when his older brother came up to me and asked me was I a Catholic or a Protestant? I had no idea what I was. I was just a child," the director recalls.
“That is what we seen in Robyn and Mebh – they were almost being forced to be different by society and those around them, but actually they had more in common than any of their tribes would have recognised.”
With two girls as the main protagonists, the films also gives a message of female empowerment, a strand Moore admits was “stumbled upon”.
“In the first draught of the story Robyn was male but it didn’t work because a young boy back then would have been encouraged to be a hunter. When we made him a little girl, with society's expectations against her, the drama was much stronger, as was the friendship between the two girls.”
So how did he feel rewriting history?
“Cromwell was a complex character, but our baddy is a cartoon version of a character from that period,” he says.
And would he have liked to time travel back to the 17th century?
“No but it might be more familiar than I like to think – including the plague that existed in 1650s Ireland.”
Moore studied classical animation at Ballyfermot College in Dublin, starting in 1995, the year Toy Story was released. Despite technological advances and the abundance of CGI animation, Moore remains faithful to the art of hand-drawn animation.
Each frame in Wolfwalkers is bursting with detail, combining Celtic imagery and lush forestry with the restrictive walls of the city, and all achieved using “old school” techniques.
“We do testing using computers but the final animation you see on screen is drawn on paper. It does take time but it’s important to us for achieving that old-fashioned, fairytale feeling.”
The movie features the enchanting music of Irish folk group Kíla and Norwegian singer Aurora, with a new version of her hit Running With the Wolves.
“My favourite scene is when the wolves run through the forest to Aurora’s song. It almost has a Snowman vibe, as the characters move to the music,” says Moore, who is a nephew of Mayobridge singer-songwriter Kieran Goss.
“I haven’t used Kieran’s music yet. His last album with Annie [Kinsella, Goss's wife and musical partner], Oh, The Starlings would be lovely soundtrack music.”
The Covid-19 pandemic obviously meant film festivals went online, but what Moore says he misses most was “traveling to schools to screen the film and chat with the kids”.
An Apple TV+ original film, he was grateful of Wolfwalker's ability to reach audiences worldwide, at a time of ever-changing lockdowns.
“With Song of the Sea we were really hoping people would go to see it in the cinema to get our money back. The box office this year has just been decimated. I'd love that people would go to see it in the cinema if they can, but we have been protected by the fact it's also available on Apple.”
Wolfwalkers is hotly tipped to receive an Oscar nomination. So, does Moore think this could be Cartoon Saloon's year to finally win an Academy Awards?
“It’s always a privilege to get a nomination as it helps more people discover the movie, but I think a win is unlikely. I’ve watched Pixar’s Soul, with Jamie Foxx and it’s fantastic.”
Next up for the studio is My Father’s Dragon, being made with Netflix, and the movie version of the popular climate-change pre-schooler series Puffin Rock.
But for Moore, he’s taking a step back and planning to travel to the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris to study life drawing.
“The studio has about six years of work ahead of us between Apple, Netflix and Disney which is amazing. That gives me the space take a year out for the first time in 20 years to research and really think about what style I want for the next picture.”
I ask Moore, who is married to ceramicist Liselott Olofsson, if he would contemplate following his wife and holding an exhibition of his work upon his return?
“Maybe, but the purpose is to recuperate and to see what direction I want to go in next.”
Wolfwalkers is available on Apple TV+ and is currently being screened at a number of Northern Ireland cinemas including Movie House Cinemas, Omniplex, IMC Ballymena, Ritz Cookstown, Brunswick Cinebowl Derry and Belfast’s QFT.
