Vivien Mason Wins Stop Motion Animation

Handmade Happiness by Vivien Mason has won first place in the Stop Motion Animation category at the 20^th Annual MY HERO International Film Festival. The film, created as part of a charitable initiative to fund films in Tasmania, Australia, features four craft makers. Each one shares a little about their craft and how it has helped them overcome adversity and personal challenges in their lives. View Handmade Happiness here.

Vivien Mason, with permissionOne of Mason's puppet interviewees sits atop her ball of yarn.

Vivien Mason is a professional filmmaker specializing in animation. Her passion for film making began during high school when her father bought home a video camera. After spending years taking small jobs on indie film projects, Mason eventually began working full time as a visual effects artist. She has since started focusing on directing, creating smaller films which allow her to explore subjects and tell stories she feels passionate about.

Vivien Mason works on 'Handmade Happiness.'Vivien Mason, with permission

Mason’s first animated documentary, A Girl Needs a Bike, tells the story of Clara Mathews, a woman teaching girls and women to ride bicycles in Ghana. “I find documentary animation a really fascinating medium,” Mason told MY HERO, adding, “It has a special ability to visualize a person’s thoughts and express the human experience. We all live such rich inner lives, but it can be hard to communicate them to the outside world.” In making Handmade Happiness, Mason wished to demonstrate that creative activities such as knitting can enrich someone’s life and provide them with an emotional outlet. She explained, “I think the experience of the pandemic brought home to me that, actually, these activities can be very meaningful to a wide range of people.” As the film was funded by an initiative with the theme ‘Resilience,’ Handmade Happiness is particularly focused on the ways that the interviewees’ crafts have helped foster resilience in the face of hardship.

The film also highlights inclusion and sustainability, issues of particular importance to Mason. She explained to MY HERO:

Living in an inclusive society is something that really matters to me. When one of the interviewees in the film expresses how difficult it was to break the barrier of being a man knitting in public, I think that opens up other really big conversations. It’s interested to consider how much we lose as a society when there is shame or a preset expectation of who is allowed to do something like cry in public or do caring work successfully. 

I also think a lot about sustainability. The interviewee who up-cycles clothing and yarn does a great job of expressing how much joy he gets from the process of rejuvenating these items. He doesn’t need to talk about the wider environmental issues around fashion in the film, because he is caught up in the excitement and experimentation of taking action and creating something new.

Vivien Mason, with permissionMason created a puppet of each of the interviewees featured in the film.

Mason was connected to the interviewees through mutual friends, after she asked members of her community if they knew of anyone that might be willing to be interviewed about their craft. “Each of them gave up an hour of their time to talk about their craft, which was incredibly generous,” she explained, “Their enthusiasm and their ability to really put into words their process was just fantastic. […] I think what I particularly admire is that they have all been very determined to pursue their creativity.”

Whilst Mason herself created the puppets, produced, and directed the film, she had a small team to assist with the animation as well as her colleague, Letitia Lamb, to conduct the interviews. “We are fortunate to have great executive producers securing the finances and two wonderful impact producers to help share it with the community,” she told MY HERO. On whom her personal hero is, Mason expressed appreciation for those around her that made the film possible:

This was the first film I made after having my son and so I owe a big thank you to my partner and my family. It was a big achievement to work together to juggle everything so that I could direct the film. Making stop motion films is a real labor of love and not easy to fit into a preset schedule.

On being a winner at the MY HERO Film Festival, Mason said:

Sharing Handmade Happiness has been such a rewarding experience. It seems like lots of viewers have connected with the interviewees stories and felt reaffirmed in the need to have a time to focus on a creative task regularly. Making independent films takes a lot of energy and passion, and being selected for an award at the My Hero 20^th International Film Festival is a fantastic encouragement. It gives me boost that I need to start thinking about the next film I want to make.

About the MY HERO International Film Festival

The My Hero Film Festival is an annual event dedicated to showcasing films that celebrate the power of the human spirit. The festival provides a platform for filmmakers to share inspirational stories of everyday heroes. Thanks to generous sponsors, prizes are awarded to elementary, middle school, high school, college and professionals in a variety of categories including documentary, narrative, music video, animation, experimental, and more.

The festival aims to inspire audiences to recognize the heroism in their own lives and encourage positive actions in their communities. Learn more.