The Beauty of Black Forest Sanatorium @TADF2022

When we think of stop-motion animation, many of us would think of the all-time classic Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. In many instances, animals are highlighted when they come to life in a world that animators create for them. The animals in stop-motion have the characteristics of humans with the make-up of the animal they embody. We along with animators fantasize about animals speaking and drinking like a Brian Griffin in our household. We put them on a harmless pedestal that they would be more useful and less evil than human beings. The support of animals is sometimes actually better than that of a human. Ironically, this is a grim reality for some.

Diana Thorneycroft‘s stop motion animation short film Black Forest Sanatorium recently premiered at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. The film hooks you into a mysterious, strange but beautiful world of mutant horses. More specifically, the female horse Quinn is trying to find a solution to her loneliness. She takes her shopping cart and goes into a sanatorium to piece something together to cure this. This is Quinn’s version of retail therapy.

Rooms With A View

Every room she visits is dark and interesting. It is curated to fine detail and they all serve a unique purpose to Quinn’s cryptic adventure. Anywhere from Brice and Blanche in the TV room to Gerald and the Room of Tongues is undoubtedly fascinating. There is a charming sense of darkness in these rooms that comes from the mind of Diana Thorneycroft. Room by room and piece by piece, Quinn inquisitively puts together a creation of her own that once and for all makes her feel happy. It’s as if Quinn is a reflection of the works of Thorneycroft.

If you think Black Forest Sanatorium is Diana Thorneycroft‘s first rodeo then you are dead wrong. (No pun intended) The Winnipeg artist has won awards and received many grants for her work. Furthermore, it has been exhibited in many cities across the globe. Her critically acclaimed photographic and drawing series in the past decade has made her a household name in the Canadian arts.

Black Forest

Diana Thorneycroft’s Black Forest installation opened in 2018 in which the work began five years beforehand in 2013. The exhibition is composed of three interconnected bodies of work; two sculptural installations that are presented as physical evidence of the cryptic narrative that unfolds in the suite of 19 photographs. It is a dark fairy tale that involves mutant horses. But this fairy tale is different because it has no closure and remains ambivalent in the end.

Much of the premise of the Black Forest was garnered into the stop-motion film in 2020. What remains a mystery about Diana Thorneycroft is her ability to ride the line between dark and gory through her art. Yes, many of the scenes are dark and can be horrific but yet these sets are just remarkable and charming. The work that was put into them will blow your mind, especially for those who have been involved with set design. It might be “offensive” to some when they see a wall of tongues or nipples which may remind you of something out of Buffalo Bill’s household in Silence of the Lambs. But it is so hysterical and an eye-opener for this creative stop-motion animation. FERNTV guesses that it’s all in her hands.

Attention to Detail

Cheers to Diana Thorneycroft for having patience in this meticulous and attention-to-detail type of animation filming. Making Black Forest Sanatorium takes a lot of persistence and consistency. Above all resilience is required especially when you do not get the type of support that someone like Tim Burton gets. She mentions that there was a lot for her to learn and she did not back down from the many challenges that were put in front of her when making this short. She stuck with it and with that she has come up with work that she can truly call her own. Many may criticize her work but they will never berate her creative process. It stands up above many. Perhaps that is the reason why these mutant horses stand the way they do.

www.dianathorneycroft.com