Meeting Macguffin

An animated ecological thriller by catya plate

a short film by catya plate

“Meeting MacGuffin: An Animated Ecological Thriller” is the sequel to the multi-award winning stop-motion animated short film “Hanging By A Thread” (2013), the second in a trilogy of short films produced, animated and directed by Catya Plate.

In a post-apocalyptic future where humanity has fallen apart, a group of scientists and an animated sign complete the construction of a new human race and meet a groundhog climatologist who prepares them a groundhog climatologist who prepares them for their mission to restore balance to the decimated Earth.    

“Meeting MacGuffin” continues the tale which began in a post-apocalyptic future where a new breed, a group of scientists called the Clothespin Freaks, are reassembling the fragmented remnants of humanity in order to give humanity a second chance to restore balance to the decimated world.

The Clothespin Freaks and nearly-reassembled new humans called Homeys are guided by “LF”, an animated sign and proud owner of a Lost & Found bureau.They travel through caverns completing their reconstitution on the way to meet Gormal MacGuffin, a wise blue-eyed groundhog with expertise in climate change and water conservation.

Gormal explains the collapse at the end of the 21st century when humanity fell apart and why the Homeys' existence is vital to the restoration of water supplies.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

CATYA PLATE (Barcelona, Spain, 1962)
Artist, Animator, Director and Producer

Catya Plate, is a Brooklyn based multi-award winning interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker. Raised in Germany, she attended the Werkkunstschule, Köln, before coming to New York in 1987 through a Fulbright Scholarship to study Fine Arts studies at the School of Visual Arts.

She has been exhibiting regularly and internationally since the mid-1980's. Recent exhibitions includes a solo show at the Indianapolis Art Center and group shows at the renowned Drawing Center and the Lesley Heller Workspace in New York City. Her work can be found in many collections worldwide, including the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Modern Art Library in New York City. Articles and reviews of Plate's films, exhibition and installation projects have appeared in Film Threat, The New York Times, among many others. In 1996 she received an Artist in the Marketplace Award from the Bronx Museum and in 2008 her work was selected for permanent inclusion in the Art base of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. In 2009 she created Clothespin Freak Productions to bring her “Clothespin Freak” characters to lifet through stop-motion animated films. In 2012, her first film “The Reading” , was awarded Best Animated Film at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival. “Hanging By A Thread” (2013) her second film, won 9 awards and screened in over 22 film festivals in the US and abroad, including the Academy Award-qualifying St. Louis International Film Festival.

In 2015, the script for “Meeting MacGuffin” made it into the Quarter Finals (Top 40) at the renowned Cinequest Screenwriting Competition.

“Meeting MacGuffin” was released on February 2nd, 2017 and has screened at the Brooklyn Film Festival (June 2017); Seattle Transmedia & Independent Film Festival (July 2017); Academy Awards® Qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival, Los Angeles, (August 2017); ANIMAZE-Montreal International Animation Film Festival (August 2017). 

Upcoming screenings include: Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror Film Festival, the annual genre sidebar in October of the Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival; StopTrik, Slovenia, Poland; Cucalorus Festival, Wilmington, North Carolina; Morbido Fest, Mexico; ReAnima International Animation Film Festival, Norway; IndieWorks in New York, Torrance Art Museum, California, and others. 

As of July 2017,”Meeting MacGuffin” has won the following awards:  BEST ANIMATED FILM (Seattle Transmedia & Independent Film Festival), BEST WRITING AWARD (BOOM!Film Reviews), BEST SHORT at ANIMAZE.