Sunburnt Unicorn, a feature-length animated film created by Canadian filmmaker Nick Johnson (Assistant Professor) in association with Squid Brain Studios and New Machine Studios, has been selected to compete at the renowned Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
The film was made by creatives from Alberta and BC and features storyboarding and design work from other AUArts alumni:
- Sho Uehara (BDes ’10, VCD) – storyboards, character design, poster design)
- Isabelle Ackroyd (BDes '20) – storyboards
- Natasha Jensen (BFA ’13, Drawing) – production supervisor
The score was created by the musical duo PIQSIQ (Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk Mackay). These Inuit-style throat singers used layers of dynamic vocals to create a haunting and original score.
Sunburnt Unicorn follows an injured youth who adopts the identity of a mythical unicorn to survive surreal encounters and rescue his father from the Cactus King. Inspired by family adventure films of the 1980s, fans of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth and Wolfgang Petersen’s The NeverEnding Story can expect epic adventure and a lot of heart.
While Johnson wrote, directed, and produced the film, the filmmaker recruited the talented teams at Squid Brain Studios and New Machine Studios to build its whimsical 3D landscape.
Sunburnt Unicorn will compete in the feature film category from June 9-15, 2024, in Annecy, France.
Watch the trailer: