Tough

Some things can only be understood with maturity.
New light is shed on childhood cultural misunderstandings when a Chinese mother and her British born daughter speak as adults for the first time.

Awards:
BAFTA Nominated Animated Short Film 2017
Best Animated Documentary at KLIK Amsterdam 2016
Audience choice for Best Animated Documentary at LIAF 2016
Jury Award for Best Short Film at 10th British Shorts Film Festival, Berlin 2017
RTS London Student Awards, Best Undergraduate Animation 2017
RTS National Award for best Undergraduate Animation 2017
FANtastische Award at ITFS 2017
Best Director in the Short Documentary category at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival 2017

Screenings:

Tough premiere at Encounters 22nd Short Film and Animation Festival 21st Sept 2016
FAFF factual animation film festival London, 30th sept- 1st October 2016
Primanima, budapest, 19th-22nd October 2016
KLIK Amsterdam Animation Festival 25th-30th October 2016
Crystal Palace international FF Sat 29th Oct- 19th Nov 2016
Manchester animation festival 15th-17th November 2016
Grafixx 25-27th Nov 2016
Two Short Nights Film Festival 2016
LIAF 2nd-11th December 2016
Animated Dreams 16-20th Nov 2016
Animateka 5-11th Dec 2016
With the Late Night Work Club + Friends Sceenings
LSFF 6-15th Jan 2017
'British Shorts' FF Berlin 12-18th Jan 2017
North American Premiere at SUNDANCE 19-29th Jan 2017
Void international FF Copenhagen 26th Jan- 4th Feb 2017
Anima 25th Feb - 5th March 2017
GLAS Animation Festival 2-5th March 2017
SXSW 10- 19th March 2017
Tricky Women 15-19th March 2017
Monstra 16-26th March 2017
Holland Animation Film Festival 22nd-26th March 2017
Ciné Court Anime 20-26th March 2017
DIFF, 30th March- 9th April 2017
LA Asian Pacific FF, 27th April- 4th May 2017
Anifilm, Czech Republic 2nd-7th May 2017
ITFS, 2-7th May 2017
Pictoplasma, 10-14th May 2017
The Chicago critics FF, 12th-18th May 2017
Cardiff Animation Nights 25th May 2017
Telluride Mountainfilm 26th-29th May 2017
Kortfilm Festivalen, Norway, 14th-18th June 2017
VIS, Vienna Shorts, 1-6th June 2017
SUNDANCE London 1st- 4th June 2017
Animafest Zagreb, 5th-10th June 2017
Sheffield Doc Fest, 8th-14th June 2017
Annecy, 12th-17th June 2017
Short Sighted Cinema: Shortest Nights screening 18th June 2017
Edinburgh International Film Festival, 21st June- 2nd July 2017
La Guarimba International FF 7th-11th August 2017

My 2016 graduation film from Kingston University London.
Original score by K. Preston Merkley

For more gifs showing the process behind making the film look at my website here:
http://ift.tt/2taxCBK
With an original score by K. Preston Merkley
oceancitydefender.com/

Cast: Jennifer Zheng

Tags: Tough, cultural revolution, China, geometric, animated documentary, documentary, personal, docufiction, red army, 2d animation, red guard, cel animation, pencil animation, pencil on paper, pencil texture, primary colours, Kingston university, Jennifer Zheng and BAFTA