JOJO IN THE STARS

“Close the doors! Nobody leaves!”

Trailer

Image for project JOJO IN THE STARS

From our 2003 archive: A twelve-minute story of love, self-sacrifice, and jealousy played out against a black and white world that is both nightmarish and hauntingly beautiful.

 

Created and directed by Director Marc Craste, this BAFTA-winning short film is both a joy and tragedy to behold. The films undeniable star is Madame Pica, the cold-hearted mistress of a circus of “monsters and misfits”, attended each night by thousands of curious spectators. The hapless Pica known as ‘Hero’ is among them every night, but he is there only to pine after the enigmatic Jo Jo, a winged trapeze artist. One night after the show, he steals the keys of the cell where Jo Jo is imprisoned, freeing her. The two escape and commence an all to short-lived romance, culminating in a waltz among the stars. But soon the two lovers are discovered and as a last desperate act, hand-in-hand, they leap from the highest window in the tower. Jo Jo attempts to fly the two of them to safety, but Hero loses his grip and falls to the ground, whilst Jo Jo is re-captured by Madame Pica’s lackeys. A single feather from JoJo’s wing floats to the ground, landing on Hero’s apparently lifeless body.

Ten years pass, and Madame Pica is in search of some new attraction to draw in the crowds. She discovers that Hero is still alive but horribly disfigured, and takes him on as the new star of the show. Hero is placed in the cell next to JoJo’s, and the reunited lovers embrace through the bars …

Stills

Written, Designed and Directed by

Marc Craste

Producer

Sue Goffe

 

Executive Producers

Sue Goffe

Pam Dennis

Philip Hunt

 

Voice Artists

Oliver Miceli

 

Editor

William Eagar

 

Animation

Fabienne Rivory

Dominic Griffiths

Boris Kossmehl

 

3D Team

Andy Staveley

Fabrice Altman

James Gaillard

Talia Hill

Duncan Birch

Bram Ttwheam

James Rogers

 

Sound Editor

Hilary Wyatt

Ben Meechan

 

Foley

Melissa Lake

Barnaby Smyth

 

Music

Harlem In Brünn

Andreas Lackner/Die Knodel

More Wings For Wheelers

Toru Yamanaka/Dumb Type

Andante from Violin

Concerto Opus 14

Samual Barber/RSN Orchestra

Texas Yellow

Urchin

 

Production Assistants

Lindsey Fraine

Ren Pesci

 

Produced by

Studio AKA

Watch The Film here.

Image for project JOJO IN THE STARS

Awards ★★★★★

 

Recognition for Jo Jo In the Stars

UK – BAFTA 2004 – Best Short Animated Film

FRANCE – Cartoon D’Or 2005

FRANCE – Clermont Ferrand 2004 Best Short Animated film

FRANCE – Les Lutins du Court-Métrage Press Lutin

SEOUL – SICAF 2004 2004 Short Film Grand Prize UK –

UK- Bradford Animation Festival 2004 Grand Prix

UK Brief Encounters 2004 – Best of British

USA – Aspen Shortsfest 2004 Special Jury Prize

USA – IFCT 2007 Award for Most Innovative Animation

 

Once there was …

PICA TOWERS

Image for project JOJO IN THE STARS
 

The creation of Jo Jo was indirectly inspired by “The Carny”, a song by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and was the development of a world Craste had created back in the late 20th century…

The world of PICA TOWERS came to Marc in a fever dream, where he envisaged a mysterious and compelling place, somewhere ‘out there, out beyond the other side’. Marc originally explored this world in three one-minute films, created at Studio AKA, and starring Madame Pica in a circus setting. The films; ‘The Good News’, ‘Hounds Of Flesh’ and ‘Pizza Sangre’ gave us a brief glimpse of the peculiar PICAS, and on the back of these three shorts, Studio AKA then asked Marc to make a longer film using the same characters, “but without any murders”. Jo Jo in the Stars was the result.  

The Pica Towers shorts are included below.

Image for project JOJO IN THE STARS

Play: The Good News

Image for project JOJO IN THE STARS

Play: Hound Of Flesh

Image for project JOJO IN THE STARS

Play: Pizza Sangre

 

 

In recent times

the world of PICAS has been quiet.

Biding its time. 

But be warned,

something ‘Pica’ this way comes … 

something, PICATOPIA …

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