News

The latest stuff I’m doing.

Julia Scotti: Funny That Way premieres this month

We are excited to announce the world premiere of Julia Scotti: Funny That Way at the Nantucket Film Festival’s NFF NOW At Home June 23-30, serendipitously during LGBTQ Pride Month!

The film, which features our main title design and motion graphics work, tracks the journey of a 65-year-old transgender comedian and the children she lost and found with comedy as their path to identity and healing

We were thrilled to contribute to director Susan Sandler’s tender, funny, and triumphant comeback story of the crazy old lady of comedy.”

Art of the Title‘s Top 10 List includes Toni Morrison

Art of the Title has selected the main title sequence from Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am as one of the top 10 title sequences of 2019.

The sequence features the hands of Brooklyn-based Mickalene Thomas, assembling a collage from pieces of portraits of Toni Morrison by director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

“The footage of Thomas’s collage assembly is beautifully buttressed by Kathryn Bostic’s lilting and contemplative jazz score, joined with credits designed by Declan Zimmermann and Perpetual Motion Graphics, and made whole through cuts and rotations by the film’s editor and producer Johanna Giebelhaus.”

Read more about these titles, and the rest of this past year’s top ten here.

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am in theaters June 21

We are eagerly anticipating the theatrical release of Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am on June 21st.

The film, which features our graphics and animation work, is being distributed by Magnolia Pictures and opening in 50 cities across the nation.

Here is the trailer:

Our role as collaborators in the film was cited by the film’s co-producer and editor, Johanna Giebelhaus in this interview published in Filmmaker Magazine.

It was an amazing experience to be a part of telling the story of this extraordinary woman.

When you see the film you will be as in love with Toni Morrison as we are.

The Congressman Main Title Sequence

We love films, and we love the art of the title, so we jumped at the chance to design and animate the main titles for The Congressman, released in Spring 2016.

The film stars Treat Williams as Maine Congressman Charlie Winship. Fed up with Washington and special interest lobbyists, battered by a media scandal and recovering from divorce, it is only after meeting a group of rugged and self-reliant lobstermen fighting to save their way of life that Charlie reconnects with the idealism that drew him to Congress, while discovering a second chance at personal happiness.

In addition to the main titles, the sequence had to communicate Charlie’s backstory to the audience by incorporating a series of archival photos and clips. Working closely with editor and co-producer Johanna Giebelhaus, our goals were to create a visual sequence recalling classic film titles of the 1960s and 70s with just a hint of a modern feel, and to find an elegant solution within the resources of an independent production.

We’re proud of the final sequence, anchored by a handwritten main title, evocative of both the lawmaker’s signature and the intimacy of the narrative. The tiles reference both the pieces of Charlie’s life, which may be falling apart or coming together, as well as the frame through which the illicit photographer is spying on him.  The sequence is rounded out by subtly moving rectangles and credits that frame the historical narrative and set the tone as we move through history to the present day.

We were privileged to be part of this production, with a first-rate performance from Treat Williams, and featuring both gorgeous photography and music by longtime friend Joe Arcidiacono.

The Congressman is now available on Amazon and numerous other streaming services and enjoying theatrical runs throughout the country. You can see the full schedule and list on the film’s website.

Hope and the Political Process

It’s an election year and everyone has an opinion about what’s broken in Washington.

The Congressman stars Treat Williams as a frustrated lawmaker who catches a breath of fresh air during an unexpected retreat to a remote island in his district to deal with a fishing dispute.

The film, written and co-directed by former congressman Robert Mrazek, tells a story which evokes Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero, a personal favorite of Declan’s.

We designed and animated the main titles.

The film anchored closing night of the The 18th Annual Sarasota Film Festival, and hits theaters in New York and Washington on April 29, and independent cinemas across the country in the weeks that follow.

Find the complete schedule on the film’s website.

See The Congressman. And vote.

Our work featured in Touched With Fire opening Friday!

Paul Dalio’s Touched With Fire, which premiered at SXSW last year, opens in theaters this Friday, February 12th. The film has been garnering positive reviews and we can’t wait to catch it!

The Village Voice says “Dalio and his actors stir up what might be the greatest of youthful feelings: that as you get to know someone new, someone whose thinking rhymes with yours, you’re also becoming ever more yourself.” Sounds perfect for Valentine’s Day, huh?

The film stars Katie Holmes, Luke Kirby and Griffin Dunne in a story of two manic depressives who meet in a psychiatric hospital and begin a romance that brings out all of the beauty and horror of their condition. Spike Lee is the Executive Producer.

Our work, which included animated environmental projections based on Van Gogh’s Starry Night, landed Declan Zimmermann a credit as Visual Effect Supervisor on the picture. You can see the projections briefly in the trailer and fully, of course, in the film.