Wiggleywoo, a Dublin-based animation studio, has started production on its first animated feature film, Tea with the Dead, based on its award-winning 2014 version of the same name. The short was broadcast on TG4 and won Best Animation at Raindance and Rhode Island and was selected for screening in dozens of film festivals around the world.
The new longform project is headed by director, writer and designer Gilly and producer Susan Broe, co-founders of the studio.
Tea with the Dead is described as “quintessentially Irish” because of its characters, storytelling, location, and language but ultimately has a universal theme of grief and love. The short hit a chord with audiences all over the world and the same is expected from the film. The short shares sad stories and morbidly hilarious moments, wrapped up with an ultimately uplifting ending. Frank Kelly (1938-2016), known for playing Fr. Jack in Father Ted, voiced the main character.
The feature will have all these characteristics too and will be a charming story that takes the viewer through the five stages of grief with the film’s hero, Frank Finnegan, punctuated by the stories shared by his deceased companions.
Frank is no ordinary embalmer, after he has disinfected, embalmed, washed and dressed the dead he does two more things, he makes them a cup of tea and then brings them back to life. They talk and laugh over tea and biscuits before he puts them into their coffin and sends them on their way.
Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine, Layer Cake, Hell on Wheels) plays Frank Finnegan. Tea with the Dead will be released in the autumn of 2023 and will be broadcast on RTE Television.
