Whirlwind is a hand-drawn animation, consisting of over 700 ink drawings, rendered during the early stages of the 2020 global pandemic. The process of drawing this film, frame by frame, coincided with a unique sense of time and space that emerged during the pandemic. Rendering visuals within a bounded paper surface became analogous to daily rituals within a bounded living space. The unique flow of time experienced during the first half of 2020 (involving repetition and an overall sense of uncertainty) provided a new type of lived experience—proper for reflection through hand-crafted animation. Influenced by early twentieth century animation, this film attempts to visualize new rhythms of life emerging during a time of rapid sociocultural change—shifting away from carefully controlled perspectives and vanishing points, while depicting a constant sense of movement and transformation.
Whirlwind received a Director’s Choice Award as part of the 2021 Thomas Edison Film Festival, Best Animated Short at the 2020 Gotta Minute Film Festival. Additional screenings include 2021 Revolutions Per Minute Festival, Defy Film Festival, 2022 Video Art and Experimental Film Festival in NYC, and The Wold’s Best Self-funded Films section of Cine Pobre, 2022.