Greenpeace – A film by Anna Mantzaris
The Hand Made Gift tells is a beautiful and melancholy Christmas film for Greenpeace. Ending with a pledge to make our cities breathable, the film tells the story of a little girl who appears to be protecting her bear from the cold, but it turns out she’s aware of an even more dangerous problem.
Credits
Agency: 84 Paris
Production Company: Passion Animation Studios
Director: Anna Mantzaris
Producers: Becky Perryman, Sibylle Preuss, Belle Palmer
Production Assistants: Laure Rees-Smith, Shelby Maddock
VFX Supervisor: Hugo Vieites Caamano
VFX Animator: German Diaz
Studio: Yamination Studios
Studio Producer: Drew Roper
Studio Assistant: Laura Vincent
Art Director: Anna Mantzaris
Animation: Steve Warne, Tim Allen, George Carman
DOP: Donna Wade
Lighting Assistant: Kat Harvey
Lighting/Sparky: Surinder Singh
Lead Set Builder: Rohan Wadham
Lead Model Maker & Rigging: Micheal Price
Set Building: Tristian Pritchard, Hetty Bax
Model Making & Costumes: Cathrene Prowse, Stella Przytula, Fung Ye Tsang, Adeena Grubb, Amy Holden, Isabelle Kennedy, Sam Clarke, Kat Simpson, George Carman
Costumes: Martha Mantzaris, Claire Cohen
Runner: Joao Lanham
Sound Design: Phil Brookes
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Production notes
Greenpeace France has a new ad for the holidays adeptly tying the beauty of handmade gifts from objects a child “finds” around the house and the dangers of air pollution, imploring viewers to, “Help us make our cities breathable. Act on www.greepeace.fr/Xmask.” The piece by Passion Animation Studios’ Anna Mantzaris pulls off a sentimental Christmas feel without being cloying—partly because of the adeptness of the felt puppets and expertly lit indoor and outdoor scenes. In addition it calls attention to an important mission for global environmentalists like Greenpeace.
The Handmade Gift is Xmask pledge
Ending with the Xmask pledge and the information that 5.5 million people die prematurely every year from breathing polluted air, “The Handmade Gift,” tells the story of a little girl who appears to be protecting her bear from the cold, but it turns out she’s worried about his health due to the pollution in the air around them. In order to protect him, she uses her resources to find, stash, or grab objects around the home and make his Christmas gift—a lovely handmade breathing mask, which both surprises and seems to concern her family.
No mask or scarf is effective against air pollution
The film ends with the message that no mask or scarf is effective against air pollution. The stark contrast of charming felted family scenes against the dire messaging is quite effective and is part of a larger push by Greenpeace and other organizations for France to remedy it’s record that, according to the World Health Organization, has three out of four children breathing toxic air.
Biography
Anna Mantzaris is a Swedish director and artist based in London, working primarily in stop motion. Her character-driven work blends humour and melancholy, with intricately crafted scenes and delicate, nuanced performances.
Anna has directed films for Honest Tea and Greenpeace amongst others, worked on stop motion features including Wes Anderson’s ‘Isle of Dogs’, and received industry acclaim for her short films ‘Enough’ and ‘Good Intentions’, which together have won over 50 international awards.
Filmography
Enough – 2017
Greenpeace – 2018
Good Intentions – 2019
Global Women – 2021