[INTERVIEW] ‘The Eating of an Orange’ Animator, May Kindred-Boothby (Sundance Animator Spotlight Series #2)

Next up in our series interviewing the Sundance animators we have a conversation with May Kindred-Boothby animator behind the short, The Eating of an Orange. 

So tell us a little bit about how you got inspired to animate.

I started off as an illustrator and then when I found out that I could make the pictures move, it was like this magical power that had been opened up to me. And I haven’t stopped animating since.

It feels like the closest thing to being able to show someone your dreams. You can sort of visualize something totally and then be like, “Here it is, look.”

How did the short The Eating of an Orange come about? 

I made it on my masters at the RCA, on the animation masters there. I wanted to make something that was about convention and sexuality and my own experiences of how convention can influence how you express yourself and limit it… So I wanted to make something that was a bit abstracted and a bit funny and a bit surreal to then sort of lure in other people into thinking about these ideas around convention and its effects.

How did you decide on an orange as your fruit of choice for this?

I mean, they’re so delicious. It just made sense. That was actually the start of the idea, that someone who lived in this conventional world being given an orange. I think there’s something about the sweet, innocent pleasure of eating an orange, which just sort of said a lot. And also, obviously, the sort of visual reference of what it looks like. And I just love oranges.

What advice would you give to animators who want to someday submit to Sundance and have that experience?

Make what you want to make, I think would be an advice. Make the stuff that feels genuine and true and like a dive into your mind.

When you found out you got accepted, you must have freaked out?

Oh my God, completely freaked out. I was so not expecting it. When I applied, I was like, “Well, that’s 50 quid wasted. I’ll never see that again.” I’m still sort of like vaguely expecting to arrive and for them to be like, “Oh, no, we’ve made, you’ve made a mistake.”

For more of our conversation with May check out the full interview below. If you get a chance to see ‘The Eating of an Orange’ at the Sundance Film Festival, let us know what you think.