Just a couple weeks ago, I talked about magicians, and I may have mentioned rabbits/bunnies at one moment. I guess it’s just magic that this next article is about rabbits. Telling a magical story in a dystopian world, Colin Ludvic Raciot made this film with people like Sylvain Chomet and Benoit Charest and even an animator who worked at Studio Ghibli. A story for all stages of life, Where Rabbits Come From looks dark and disturbing and with the lack of dialogue, one would be creeped out. As somebody who is fluent in non-verbal grunts, I could understand thoroughly. It played at quite a few Canadian festivals, but I must’ve missed it because I hadn’t seen it until just recently. It’s such an amazing film it won Best Animated Short at the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards, and I had to talk to Colin after watching it myself and learn some more. So let’s learn what went into making this film. And maybe a little bit about where rabbits come from, but not in a sexual reproductive way.
HNMAG: Congrats on your CSA win. Did you ever expect to get such an honour?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: Oh, wow. Actually, I did not. But obviously, we’re really proud of the journey we had. Just being nominated was something really awesome, especially since I know the other filmmakers in the category, and it was such an honour. Winning an award and all kinds of awards is kind of a nice tap on the back. We’re really happy with that and it was unexpected. We’re really proud of ourselves, and I think it’s a great testament to how our film reaches to a wide audience.
HNMAG: And it’s considered for next year’s Oscars as well. Will you be attending just in case?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: (laughs) Actually, that’s the crazy part because actually when we got the win for the CSA awards, it’s afterwards someone came to us, and said “Hey, you’re eligible now.” and we were like “What? Seriously? That’s so nice.” But I don’t want to get ahead of myself, there’s a lot of work to do and talk about the film until the short is released.
HNMAG: Has it won any other awards?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: A few. Recently in Montreal it won Best International Short at Animaze, there was one from a festival in Spain, and in San Diego I think it won Jury Prize at a Kid’s Film Festival. The other one would be Durham in Canada, it won Best Animation.
HNMAG: It certainly has showcased at a few different festivals. How did audiences feel about it?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: Actually, I think that’s the nicest part when you’re a director or you’ve worked on a film. I go to watch a film, I watch the audience, I don’t even watch the film anymore. Just looking at all the reactions and stuff like that. I think a lot of people were moved, especially at the few dramatic points. But traveling with the film around the world, it’s really nice seeing the children’s reactions.
Some of the film’s trip took him near Dubai and he said the reactions from the youth were some of the best. They were especially very courteous towards the film, and asked questions that made him very interested. He even got teachers who wanted educational content about the film so they could talk about it in their classrooms.
HNMAG: And how do you feel with it being at so many festivals?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: Obviously, it’s really rewarding in a sense because when you make a film and you work so long on it you want people to see the film. What I liked about the festival run is it wasn’t niche in one specific kind of festival. There were a few selections in general, more children’s festival and animation festival as well. Having this kind of melting pot in many kinds of selections of festivals made me feel like the film really spoke with a lot of people from different backgrounds and areas. I think that’s the most rewarding aspect from the festival.
HNMAG: Now how did you manage to join forces with Sylvain Chomet and Benoit Charest? Have you known each other a long time?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: No, actually. That’s a good question. Well, for the film I wanted a mentor because it’s my first animation film and I was ambitious and I knew it. I was like, “I need someone that can work with me, just give me advice. Who’s my favourite French-speaking animation director?” and the first name was Sylvain Chomet. I just contacted him through his school since he had that back then, and I did. He answered that he was really interested in working with me and was there really early on. From the script stage, then storyboarding, and animation to the end of the animating process. He was really generous with his time, and dived into the project, so it was really a confidence boost knowing that someone of his caliber could enjoy the process of someone doing his first animated film. He is the person who suggested working with Benoit on music. He lived in Quebec as well so it wasn’t an issue to reach out. He really dived in as well.
HNMAG: Who else was involved with the production? Anybody you knew or lots more new faces?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: Lots of new faces, but mostly experienced. It was a huge undertaking so I needed to take in people I could trust in the process. There was one VFX animator from Vancouver, Jason Wolvette was really amazing through the process. It was a nice collaboration, we had people from Japan working on the film but mostly in Montreal and the Quebec area. I’d say the editing departments were mostly experienced and everybody who worked on the film was really inspired by the story. The takeaway here is that every time I reached out to someone animatic, or a storyboarder they said it looked so much fun and they wanted to work on it. It WAS fun, a really mixed kind of team from around the world.
HNMAG: And you got the idea through your experience with fatherhood, but why did you choose rabbits as the main characters?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: (laughs) Yeah, actually I don’t want to spoil the film, but I was really intrigued with the theme of magic and everything that’s around magicians. That was a universe I wanted to explore at one time in my life, but I didn’t have quite the story yet, then I became the father.
As Colin hung out with his daughter, they drew pictures and came up with all kinds of stories through the gift of imagination. Upon discovering this bond, Colin felt he could tell a story and do so in a magician’s magic world. Having an interesting connection with my little friend, Phoenix, I can relate. Now if only she weren’t so far away for such a long time, we’d probably create something together. I only hope she’ll recognize me upon her return.
HMMAG: The film is pretty dark and ominous, yet shows delight. Why is it set in such tones even for magical moments?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: Yeah, well, everything I’ve been doing as a filmmaker has always been a bit dark, and it’s just I think the way my brain works in a sense. I think the fact that the magical world was kind of bleak and dark, is kind of ironic in a sense because when people think about magic, they think about something that’s joyful or brings happiness. I found it really interesting to build the world, that’s not that joyful and essentially the joy and magic comes from the relationship between the dad and his daughter who discovered this magic. The joy makes a great contrast to this world. A lot of inspirations that I have are kind of dark, old Disney movies like Fantasia or 101 Dalmatians, Sleeping Beauty. All of these films are really dark but there’s something so beautiful about the lighting and ambience. I felt like this is the playground I want to play with.
HNMAG: And why did you choose little to no dialogue? Especially since the dialogue was usually gibberish. Do you find those films to be more interesting?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: Yeah. We did try having dialogue, it’s a fast-paced story so having dialogue was kinda slowing down that process. We felt that the images, sound, and music could convey everything we wanted to say and having just the irony of not communicating and not being able to speak or communicate emotions. It was really helpful with the story building because this universe and people can really convey happiness and imagination. We found it really interesting.
HNMAG: And what was the reason for the title in French?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: In Quebec, we obviously speak French and English. If we have dialogue it would’ve been in French. But the title is in French and there’s an English title because obviously it’s a commercial kind of film. I think it’s the culture roots, probably. Most of my inspiration comes from Quebec, from animations. I watched a lot of NFB when I was younger and there’s a lot of French animation with cinema. The film is not really in French, it’s in Rabbit. (laughs)
HNMAG: So you’re a French-Canadian director and writer, yet this whole thing was mostly in Rabbit.
Colin Ludvic Racicot: Yeah.
HNMAG: Interesting explanation in the film too for the title. Just how did that come to be?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: Obviously the film is about magic, and I was curious. One of the questions I had was What if we went in the Magician’s Hat? So I thought I’ll do a film where rabbits come from. That’s how the title was born.
HNMAG: What was the most interesting trick you’ve ever witnessed?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: Wow, that’s a good question. I think at some point when I was younger, someone was able to make someone float and that was crazy. I still don’t have an explanation to this day, there’s a really scientific and physical explanation but I remember seeing that and being amazed. The whole world of illusionists, and magicians. When I was younger, I was really amazed by that. It’s the concept of making people believe things that aren’t real.
Colin felt the same way with cinema, and those two worlds come together to make some interesting results. He explained that may be the reason he put them together in this film and some of his other work.
HNMAG: Do you feel your audience has felt some magic and may go on to make their own?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: After seeing my film? Yeah. One thing that I noticed, people watching a film react at the same time and they engage in this communal experience. I always sense that after the film, that when people got out of the screenings, they were all lifted in a sense. I think it does stimulate imagination, the film lives with people for a day or two after, especially with what the children say afterwards. My daughter talks about it the day after seeing it, and I think it makes people live their inner child a bit more.
HNMAG: Will you be focusing on more films that cover the concept of magic?
Colin Ludvic Racicot: Not speficially the magic tricks, but there’s still the sense of wonder and exploring fantasy. These are the things that stimulate me as an artist or filmmaker. My next films will definitely explore these themes. Imagination, fantasy, maybe not magicians or rabbits. But who knows? Maybe one day, I’ll come back to this crazy world.
Until then, I’ll keep checking out more of Colin’s works and I can’t wait to see if he does return to the world of fantasy. At the same time, there are lots more fantastical films to check out and I will keep doing so. I recently spoke to another Oscar nominee and will let you know more about that conversation in another article. The Oscars just gets more exciting.