Big Sonia

When people ask what is my favorite project I’ve worked on, I often answer Big Sonia. I feel honored that Leah Warshawski and Todd Soliday of Inflatable Film entrusted me with the animations for their moving documentary. It tells the story of Leah’s grandmother Sonia who has an admirable outlook on life even after surviving the holocaust. Leah and Todd asked me to animate the scenes where Sonia reflects on her childhood – being taken by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. It was a sobering job for which I am very grateful and proud of my work. Through animation we were able to tell Sonia’s story unique to her own experience. The challenges were to depict Sonia’s struggles without showing violence, and make them personal to her story. For the animations I focused on showing Sonia’s emotions rather than actions. The softness of Sonia’s voice when she recalls her childhood, the sound of the music box underscore, and Rachel Ignotofsky’s beautiful drawings influenced me to show the scenes a dream-like manner. I created focused, slow moving animations to echo the far away thoughtfulness of Sonia’s narrative. Whenever I watch the film I come away a little more gentle and compassionate. I hope everyone gets the chance to watch this film.