Art House | ‘Mira’ Renders Horror in Stop-Motion Animation

Stop-motion animation just might be the most labor-intensive form of filmmaking.

In Eva Louise Hall’s visually sumptuous “Mira,” which explores a particularly fraught creative relationship, the gorgeous animation also allows the horror in the story to sneak up on you.

“I really wanted to make a puppet film that could communicate some of the more sinister or dark sides of creative collaborations,” Hall said.

Hall, a professor at the Kansas City Art Institute, has created an impressive body of stop-motion animation work in recent years. Her movies, which tend to walk on the dark side of the street, have a somewhat surprising purpose.

“I think through the contemplation of the dark and horrific we can expand our capacity for empathy and kindness,” Hall said.

To learn more about stop-motion animation, and Hall’s storytelling process, watch the attached video.

John McGrath is a video producer and host of Art House for Kansas City PBS.