"PUT this shell to your ear and hear the song of the sea," whispers a mother to her son in Tomm Moore's new animated movie The Song of The Sea. Taking inspiration from Irish folklore, the Oscar-nominated movie tells the story of Ben and his little sister Saoirse – the last seal child – who embark on a fantastic journey across a fading world of ancient legend and magic in an attempt to return to their home by the sea.
The Newry-born director started his Kilkenny-based studio Cartoon Saloon in 1999, creating the popular children’s animated series Skunk Fu! along with several short films. It wasn’t until 2009 that Moore made a splash in the international game with The Secret of Kells (co-directed with Nora Twomey), a hand-drawn animated film that earned multiple award nominations including an Oscar nod for Best Animated Feature and several wins.
Song of The Sea features the voices of Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, David Rawle, Lisa Hannigan, Pat Shortt and Jon Kenny. Five-years in production, local audiences can get a sneak preview of the 2D animation this weekend when the film is shown as part of the CinSeekers Film Club, a monthly film event for young people organised by Cinemagic Film Festival, based at Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast.
Where did you get the idea of making a film based on the idea of selkies, mythical creatures that resemble a seal in the water but assume human form on land?
About 10 years ago I was on holidays down in Dingle with my son, who was 10 at the time, and we came across a seal cull that was going on where fishermen had been killing the seals. It was disturbing and the woman we were renting the cottage from on holidays started to tell us that that wouldn't have happened years ago – that there was a local belief that the seals could have the soul of the people lost at sea.
I started to read those old stories and the more I read about it the more I realised they were worth re-exploring. Selkies were often allegories for the grief of losing someone to the sea and many of these tales of folklore seemed to be about families dealing with loss which is very relevant for a modern audience.
You use hand-drawn animation, can this method compete with CGI?
Different stories suit different mediums. I started college in 1995, the year Toy Story came out. The hand-drawn course was becoming more antiquated because people were looking to get into computer-generated imaging more and more. But while Toy Story was incredible back then, it now looks quite dated. The problem is the software keeps improving all the time – whereas you look at Bambi which was made in the 1940s and to me it looks as fresh as if it were made this year. Hand-drawn animation has a depth and timelessness to it you can't create with a computer.
What is your advice to young people today who are interested in a career in animation?
Keep on learning to draw as there is no point being impressed with yourself because you can do something in a software package because it will change next week. Drawing is the fundamentals of animation. The other things you need is persistence and teamwork. The medium is as much about the art of teamwork as much as the art of animation, so if you can get together with friends and create films with a bunch of buddies that is the best training you can get.
Where you surprised by your two Oscar nominations and how was the experience?
It was good craic. The first time we were rabbits in headlights. We weren't expecting it at all and didn't know what to make of it and it was just a real adventure meeting the likes of Henry Selick [Coraline] and Pete Doctoer [Up]. This time it was really unexpected because there were such strong other films like The Lego Movie which I was genuinely surprised was not nominated. But it was like reconnecting with old friends out there because there's a really warm feeling among the animation community and a lot of people working in LA started working in Dublin in the Sullivan Bluth Studios back in the 80s so we have a lot of old friends out there and it's fantastic to re-connect with them.
Would you ever contemplate going to work in America?
No, I used to think I was doing this until I got a real job and somewhere along the lines I realised this was my real job.
How is the Irish animation industry viewed worldwide?
People don't realise it within the country but internationally Irish animation is hugely respected. There is a huge amount going on through the likes of Dogs Ears in Derry, Sixteen South in Belfast and all the studios in Galway and Dublin. There's a lot of stuff being seen by kids all over the world that is made in Ireland such as the Disney show Doc McStuffins and Boulder Studio in Dublin do a lot of stuff for Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. Our show Puffin Rocks we are co-producing it with Dog Ears is going to be available on Netflix soon, so I think people are going to discover the Derry accent all over the world.
Have you another film in the pipeline?
There is one more in what I call my folklore trilogy. It's an interesting story called the WolfWalkers and it's set in Kilkenny around the mid-1600s around the time of the English civil war. It's a little bit darker, more of a harder edge adventure. But the next feature that is going to come from Cartoon Saloon is directed by Nora [Twomey] and is well in production now is called The Breadwinner. It's based on a book by Deborah Ellis about a little girl in Afghanistan who has to pretend to be a boy to provide for her family, because the others in her family can't leave their home during the Taliban era.
:: Song of the Sea (Cert PG) will be screened in the CineSeekers Film Club on Saturday July 4 at 4pm. Tickets from queensfilmtheatre.com. The film is on general release from July 10.
