Every year, six talented, new filmmakers are chosen from hundreds of applicants to make a short film for Crazy8’s.
Crazy8s provides filmmakers with a significant boost to their projects. Six finalists receive $2000 each, plus an in-kind production package and post-production service valued at up to $50,000. This includes professional equipment, mentorship, and access to locations, helping them complete their short film within eight days.
There is a huge gala screening at the Vancouver Centre.
We met with directors Kiki Evans & Morgan Abele to talk about their career and Mould.
HNMAG: Morgan, where are you from originally?
Morgan Abele: I’m from Vancouver BC.
HNMAG: Kiki, how about you?
Kiki Evans: I was born on the island, in Victoria, but I’ve I’ve grown up and lived in Coquitlam all my life.
HNMAG: You’re both local. That’s great. Morgan, when did you become interested in film and television?
Morgan Abele: I grew up doing a lot of theater. I started acting in theater and a little bit of film as a kid. Then I got really into the writing side of things. I wrote some musicals.
During COVID theater wasn’t really an option anymore. It couldn’t be because of restrictions. I decided to go to film school. I totally fell in love with it. I really got into writing and directing. Just being part of the whole film world.
HNMAG: Which film school did you go to?
Kiki Evans: We both went to Capilano.
HNMAG: Was it virtual in 2020?
Morgan Abele: Yes it was. We did the first year fully virtual. I think the second semester, we maybe had one in person class and we all wore masks and face shields and we stayed a bunch of feet apart. It was definitely really different, having that as the beginning of the education, but it was a really good program overall. I really liked it.
HNMAG: Kiki, how about you? How did you become interested in filming TV?
Kiki Evans: I’ve always been a creative kid and I didn’t really know where to put all of my energy and creativity. I wanted to just make things with my hands constantly. Then sometime in high school, I figured out my biggest passion. I just liked watching TV so I might as well go into film.
HNMAG: Were you like, oh, I’m a huge Seinfeld fan. Why don’t I do that?
Kiki Evans: Yeah exactly.
HNMAG: Did either of you have any experience with claymation before mold?
Kiki Evans: My thesis film was a claymation. It was my first time trying it out in a dramatic form. I made a horror claymation called Fearless.
HNMAG: Oh nice. That was your….
Kiki Evans: …three minute short.
HNMAG: Morgan, when you wrote Mold, did you have claymation in mind or was that something that your collaboration brought on?
Morgan Abele: Claymation is something that’s been a part of the film since the beginning. It’s something that me and Kiki have been really wanting to collaborate on for a while. Going to film school together and being friends, we were looking for a project to combine our styles. As friends, we bonded over shared feelings that we’ve both experienced. We’ve both struggled with dissociation and we’ve always really wanted to make a project that portrays that. After Kiki did Fearless, I was thinking about how we could combine our different styles to create something very interesting and cool. That was where the idea ended up coming from.
HNMAG: How did you get involved with Crazy8s? How did you decide to apply or how did that work?
Morgan Abele: I worked as a production assistant (PA) last year on Headcase, which was at Crazy8s last year. It’s just something in the Vancouver film community that everyone talks about. It was something that I’d always kind of thought about applying for, but I’d never really had the right project that I felt that I could apply. Then after working on Headcase. I was like, you know what, I could do this too. Why not? I’ll just send an application, first time, we’ll see what happens.
HNMAG: How did you find Crazy8s? Was it what you expected it would be? Was it an exciting experience?
Kiki Evans: Most definitely! I’m pretty sure this is the first hybrid-claymation Crazy8s film. Everyone from the beginning of the pitching process was telling us this is a very ambitious film. Are you sure you could pull this off? We were like, yes, of course we can. But it was definitely ambitious to say the least.
Morgan Abele: It was so fun, and we learned so much along the way, but it was more than we expected in a lot of ways for sure.
Kiki Evans: Absolutely.
HNMAG: It’s a really ambitious and cool film, but beyond that, it is also has important themes in regards to mental health. Is that something you want people to take away from from their experience of watching this movie?
Morgan Abele: That is something that Kiki and I talked about a lot. What message we want to leave people with for this film. How does it sit with those who had some mental health struggles? We definitely bonded over our mental health struggles in our friendship. We really wanted to leave people with a feeling of things aren’t always going to be good, but you’re not going to be alone. There are these invisible hardships for people with mental health issues where you can’t see it affecting them until they speak out or they finally break. You don’t get to see inside people’s minds, and the only way that you can somehow feel better or even cope, is to talk with people who are experiencing the same thing.
HNMAG: Sure, absolutely. Have either of you ever worked in a cubicle?
Morgan Abele: I actually haven’t. I don’t think Kiki has either. I worked in a production office.
HNMAG: It’s reminiscent of the classic comedy Office Space. It’s so ridiculous the jobs people have and the assigned importance to something that seems so trivial.
Morgan Abele: Actually, in our pitching process, I kept saying it was like, Office Space meets Coraline.
HNMAG: Where was this film set, if anywhere specific?
Morgan Abele: The film is set in present day Canada.
Mould is a really fun, creative, and entertaining short film. It took a lot of work as claymation is a slow and detailed process. It’s also one that leaves you questioning your response to mental health and how you treat others. Kiki Evans & Morgan Abele have a wonderful filmmaking partnership and collaborate beautifully. We are excited to see how they navigate the landscape of Hollywood North.