Interview | The Girl Who Cried Pearls, Winner Best Animated Short

Recorded in Patrick Watson’s studio, before the Oscar® nomination. * Filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski speak with composer Patrick Watson and artistic director Brigitte Henry about making their 2026 Oscar®-winning stop-motion film, The Girl Who Cried Pearls. From 3D-printing miniatures, to collecting garbage on the streets of Montreal, to working with celebrated actors, the team discuss what it takes to craft a modern fable from scratch. ▶️ Available to stream for free on NFB.ca Watch more free films on NFB.ca → http://bit.ly/YThpNFB Subscribe to our newsletter → http://bit.ly/NFBnewsletter Follow us on Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/nfb.ca Follow us on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/onf_nfb/ Follow us on X → https://www.twitter.com/thenfb Download our free iOS Apps → http://apple.co/2dbva4h Download our free Android Apps → http://bit.ly/2dbvHmO CHAPTERS 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:00 Establishing a common vision 00:07:47 The value of a good story 00:13:16 Crafting a modern fable 00:20:05 Mythologizing Montreal 00:29:55 Use of technology 00:36:55 Puppet & set making 00:45:08 The metaphysics of found objects 00:48:30 Puppets based on people 00:53:06 Other sources of inspiration 00:56:51 Actors in stop-motion 01:07:54 James Hyndman & Colm Feore 01:14:07 Being in the NFB continuum 01:15:50 Technical limitations 01:26:25 Music & sound 01:33:45 Scene breakdown 1 01:44:48 Scene breakdown 2