There’s a surreal moment when the emcee pauses, then precedes with “this next one has a lot of directors…” before announcing that our collective hard work garnered another award for I Never Picked Cotton (2019), which won the Silver award for “Student Animated Documentary” at the 2019 Los Angeles Animation Festival!
Major congratulations to the Winner of this category (who was also our TA), Yuri Jan for Thread (2019), an incredibly powerful animated documentary about Korean comfort women during and after WWII. (Check out her IG here: www.instagram.com/yurssj)
All the thanks to Sheila Sofian for guiding us here! (Also thank you Trent and Janna from Visual Communications for coming out to show your support!)
Yolanda Morgan recalls her experiences with racism and the impact it has had on her. Produced in USC's CTAN 470 Documentary Animation Production class by 12 student directors.
2019 BEST COLLEGE FILM, Chicago Southland International Film Festival
2019 SILVER AWARD, Student Animated Documentary, Los Angeles Animation Festival
2019 World Student Panorama, Ottawa International Animation Festival
2019 Portland Unknown Fingertip Exhibition, Portland Unknown Film Festival
2019 Official Selection, Ojai Short Film Fest
2019 Official Selection, 5th Annual Montana Film Festival
Interview with Yolanda Morgan
Directed & Animated by:
Hanna Adams
Cole Bacani
Max Edmeier
Dariel Filomeno
Alexandra Gottlieb
Q. Le
Yolanda Morgan
Victoria Perez
Benjamin Ragasa
Josie Stocks
John Stover
Jinghan Tian
Edited by:
Q. Le
Character Design by:
John Stover
Music by:
Benjamin Ragasa
Sound Design by:
Hanna Adams
Storyboard by:
Josie Stocks
Jinghan Tian
Additional Puppet Fabrication:
Yuri Jang
Additional Animation:
Yuri Jang
Sound Mix by:
Paul Fonarev
Sound Production Supervisor:
Bethany Sparks
Production Supervisor:
Mar Elepano
Student Assistant:
Yuri Jang
Faculty Advisor:
Sheila M, Sofian
Quotation from poem “Rifle” by Rudy Francisco
Used with permission from Rudy Francisco
Thread is my Thesis Project from Animation and Digital Arts MFA 2019 at USC.
Thread follows a single character, known only as “the Girl,” from her youth in the 1930s Korean countryside to her life as an elderly woman in 1990s South Korea. While playing a game of Korean jacks as a pre-teen, the Girl is abducted by a Japanese officer and forced into sexual slavery as a “comfort woman” for Japanese soldiers during WWII. Although she survives this terrible ordeal, the experiences inflicts scars, both visible and invisible, that remain with her throughout her adult life. However, when the Girl hears the Japanese government deny the legitimacy of the comfort women, she is motivated to act. Strengthened by the support of others who believe her story, the Girl is able to overcome her pain to finally share her story.
TV Paint, Photoshop, After Effect .Premiere, Cinema 4D.
