HOW WAS THIS FILM BORN?
If I had to choose one moment, I could say it was the day I came across a social media post about the recently awarded short film: we fly, we crawl, we swim produced by just wondering… in 2021. I was mesmerized by the sensitivity, the depth of the message, and the beauty of the images. I think that was the moment when I began to dream of collaborating on something similar, one day.
More than one year later, as project CLAN was coming to an end and we were preparing the final exhibition with the children’s photos, the idea of producing an informative video was discussed with the team. One day I said to myself: what if I tried to contact just wondering? I would, at least, have tried to fulfil my dream!
Verónica Policarpo, PI of project CLAN
WHO OR WHAT IS
JUST WONDERING…?
JUST WONDERING… is a collective and an interdisciplinary project, a close collaboration between Aron Nor, Mina Mimosa, and M. Martelli, which creates films and animated essays that explore ideas critical of the status-quo. Taking their inspiration from antispeciesist and post-humanist theories, as well as from concepts of social and climate justice, their work is inescapably political and speculative.
HOW WAS THIS VIDEO PRODUCED?
On the one hand, we started working on this video like in all our videos: getting super excited while panicking that we have to finish – on time! On the other hand, we started like no other video, thanks to Verónica, whom I felt close to from the beginning of our collaboration, making things easy for us as we progressed with it. The CLAN project and its research materials influenced how we approached the issues at hand as well as the video, and there was always this feeling that we complement the materials in our own particular ways and continue the work by giving it a different dimension. So because of this, I think we could say that the video engages with the topic both from within and from outside: summing up some essential aspects of the research all while exploring them in a similar way that we explore other topics at just wondering… What I mean by this is that we think through them, we are changed by them, and we imagine through the making of the video: how to bring the issues that are important to us further to other people.
Aron Nor, director & editor
With excitement! For me, it was super-interesting to explore this subject, as we, at just wondering…, have been talking amongst ourselves quite a lot about living with animal companions – as all three of us do. I also loved reading about the historical intermingling of discourses around childhood and pethood, learning from both the CLAN research project’s outcomes, and from discussions we’ve had together, as a group. Writing based on the research, going back and forth between us – with Aron, Mina, and Verónica – and then starting creatively, with a lullaby (!), was the sort of experience I want to have more often.
M. Martelli, writer & narrator
From the start, I imagined this video would have an emotionally unique visual development, mainly because of the children’s quotes, which are so sincere, and I adore drawing non-human animals. As we learned more about the CLAN research, we wanted to create a soft, almost playful cheerfulness within the illustrations, shifting between the depths of the whole spectrum of relations, from care to grief. I was also interested in learning more about the power structures between adults, children, and their non-human companions and how these change over time or in different contexts, and these created a counterweight to the light approach from some of the warmer scenes, by adding a darker blue atmosphere in contrast. Every video we work on allows us to approach things differently. For this one, having a beautiful lullaby written by M. allowed us to emphasize and cherish the deep connections between the children and their companions with some frame-by-frame animations. Also, having such an excellent archive of image references was a real inspiration in creating the bright photograph interventions.
Mina Mimosa, art director & illustrator
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE VIDEO?
A product of creative serendipity, together with the Illustrated book for children, and the three Fictional Short Stories, the video is part of a wider constellation of materials thought to reach wider audiences beyond academia. These three new outputs smoothly connect with other outputs planned from the beginning such as the Exhibition, the Workshops with participants and stakeholders, and the Toolkit for educators. All of them have a common motto: to deliver, in a language that is accessible to a non-academic audience with different social backgrounds, ages, and nationalities, a few messages drawing on the main results of the CLAN research project.
