Helen Hill

Birth : 1970-05-09, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

Death : 2007-01-04

History

Helen Wingard Hill was an American animation filmmaker and social activist who lived in New Orleans, Louisiana. When her final film, The Florestine Collection, was released in 2011, curators and critics described her as "one of the most well-regarded experimental animators of her generation." In the pre-dawn hours of January 4, 2007, Hill was murdered by a random intruder in her New Orleans home. Her death (which was one of six murders in New Orleans that day), coupled with the murder a week before of well-known New Orleans musician Dinerral Shavers, sparked widespread civic outrage in New Orleans, and inspired thousands to march against the rampant and continuing post-Katrina violence in New Orleans. This "March Against Violence on City Hall" drew significant press coverage throughout the United States and the rest of the world. (from wikipedia)

Profile

Movies

The Florestine Collection

Director

Experimental Animator Helen Hill found more than 100 handmade dresses in a trash pile on one Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans. She set out to make a film about the dressmaker, an African-American seamstress who had recently passed away. The dresses and much of the film footage were later flood-damaged by Hurricane Katrina while Helen was still working on the film. Helen was murdered in a home invasion in New Orleans in 2007. Her husband Paul Gailiunas has completed the film, which includes Helen's original silhouette, cut-out, and puppet animation, as well as flood-damaged and restored home movies.

Bohemian Town

Director

A tribute to Halifax.

Madame Winger Makes a Film: A Survival Guide for the 21st Century

Director

Madame Winger wants you to make a film about something you love. She shows you her favorite low budget filmmaking techniques, from cameraless animation to processing your own film in a bathtub. Filmed in 16 mm.

Film for Rosie

Director

A visual genealogy for Helen's potbellied pig Rosabella Bridle King. Hand processed black and white live action and drawing on film (2000). Made at Phil Hoffman's Film Farm.

Your New Pig Is Down the Road

Director

"Filmed in 16mm and hand processed in a week at Phil Hoffman's Film Farm in Canada, this film was a treasure map to lead my husband to his gift, a little pet pig." ⁠— Helen Hill

Mouseholes

Director

Helen Hill remembers her grandfather just before his death (in part) by a metaphor involving him as a rapidly diminishing mouse.

The Tunnel of Love

Director

A whimsical lesson in love from Helen Hill.

The World's Smallest Fair

Director

A man visits the world's smallest fair, where he learns a valuable lesson about life and poison cotton candy.

Scratch and Crow

Director

Scratch and Crow is a student film by Helen Hill made at the California Institute of the Arts. It is filled with vivid color and a light sense of humor. It is also a poetic and spiritual homage to animals and the human soul

Vessel

Director

Inspired by a poem.

Rain Dance

Director

Rain Dance is a four-minute animation produced by Hill while an undergraduate student at Harvard University from 1988-1992; the exact date of the production is currently unidentified. Although little known, the film is representative of both Hill’s do-it yourself approach – employing character cutouts, strong, yet playful colors, and a narrative and technical simplicity rich with charm – and her jovial demeanor and inquisitive approach to life. The film is dedicated to Elijah Aron, Hill’s boyfriend throughout college. Aron remained close friends with Helen and her husband Paul Gailiunas, and was the godfather of their son Francis.

Five Spells

Director

GOOD LUCK FILM FOR TRAVEL. Hand processed at Phil Hoffman's Film Farm in Ontario.

I Love Nola

Director

Nola was born in New Orleans and lived most of her life in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She finally returned to her hometown in 2001. Filmed in 16 mm.

Cleveland Street Gap

Director

Mid-City, New Orleans - the bottom of the bowl. A filmmaker restores what she can of her soggy home movies, which sat in floodwater for three weeks. Another filmmaker shoots the same compositions in the same neighborhood, now abandoned, 10 months after the flood. Edited together they provide a testament to the slow nature of New Orleans’s recovery and its missing populace.