Andrea Dorfman is a self-taught animator. Her evolution as a filmmaker can be witnessed through the animation techniques she used in her films: stop-motion and time-lapse in Flawed, then evolving to puppet making and working with layers, and then to pen and ink/watercolour classical animation in Big Mouth. In her latest short Hairy Legs, which is also selected in the official competition of Annecy Film Festival, Dorfman incorporates various animation styles that she wanted to learn, but uses them creatively to tell different chapters of her story.
Hairy Legs is the story of a 13-year-old girl who refuses to shave her legs, and this small yet life-changing act of rebellion sets her on the road to womanhood and feminism. The film is a production of the National Film Board of Canada.
In an interview with AnimationXpress, Dorfman talks about Hairy Legs, as well as using art and animation to discover herself, to examine the world, and to interpret her experiences.
Hairy Legs is a deeply personal story. Was this an idea you’ve carried for a long time, or did it emerge organically at a particular moment in your filmmaking journey?
Hairy Legs is a story I’ve wanted to tell for a long time. Removing hair is expensive, time consuming and sometimes painful, yet it’s a practice that’s come to be expected for most women. Who’s asking us to do this? Do we actually have free will? Who’s benefitting and profiting from women having to remove body hair? I question cultural practices like these and how, when it comes to gender, we often take these practices for granted despite the fact that they may not benefit us.
In your film, you categorise hairy legged women into three groups. To me, it talks about “belonging” and finding a place in society. Could you walk us through your writing process and how you shaped those themes?
I completely agree—belonging is essential to the human experience. When we don’t belong, in a primal sense, we won’t survive. But it’s equally important to determine which practices of belonging are healthy and which aren’t. It’s important to question what we’re asking of one another to belong, instead of blindly going along with an agenda someone else has determined for their benefit. Having hairy legs might not save the world, but the question of why we get rid of the hair on our legs might lead to questioning other practices we engage in, to belong – practices that might be unhealthy for women, society or the planet.
In the film, the protagonist embraces art as a tool for self-expression. Would you say this mirrors your own experience of using filmmaking and animation to process and share personal stories?
Oh yes, absolutely. My high school had a wonderful art program, and art was hugely formative for me as a young person. When I discovered art as a teenager, it helped me to navigate through a difficult time of life while also giving me tools to discover (and continue to discover) so much about myself and how to live in and examine the world around me, helping me to interpret my experience as a human being. Since then, I’ve always used art in this way and to connect and communicate with others. I’m so grateful for being able to use art and film as a way to create and share stories.
You explore powerful themes such as gender, identity, capitalism, and patriarchy in Hairy Legs. How have these shaped your worldview?
As a teenager, I started to see how capitalism and patriarchy are the driving forces behind so much of our human experience. Understanding how they worked together was like a veil lifting. Hairy Legs might be a small personal story, but it helped me to understand how we give up our freedoms in order to belong to a society that might not have our best interests at heart.
The film’s blend of stop-motion puppetry and hand-painted classical animation is striking. Could you elaborate on these techniques?
Hairy Legs is told through different chapters, and I wanted each to have a different look/animation technique, reflecting the theme of that specific chapter in the trajectory of my life through the lens of gender (and whether or not to shave my legs). I had a lot of fun coming up with these different looks, beginning with more rigid puppetry and ending with watercolour 2D frame-by-frame animation that was more free and whimsical.
One aspect I love about animation is how using different techniques can help tell a story. I’m experimental and exploratory in creating and gathering tools for my animation toolbox as I evolve. Eventually, I draw on these tools on the next film(s). Hairy Legs is a culmination of all I’ve learned up until now.
Does your choice of animation techniques shift when you’re creating a personal film compared to when you’re working on projects for others? How did those choices shape the aesthetic of Hairy Legs?
One of the aspects about animation that I love is how using different techniques can help tell a story. Whether the animation is a commissioned film or a personal project, I always approach the form and the story the same way, bringing all I have learned through previous animations to the piece.
Hairy Legs is part of the Annecy official selection – congratulations! What does this acknowledgment mean to you?
I am thrilled and honoured to be a part of the Annecy Festival! This is the second time I’ve had a film at the festival but the first time I’ll be attending. I’m so excited to see incredible animation from all over the world. I’m also grateful to be a part of the rich and beautiful body of work that the National Film Board creates. We’re so lucky that we have the NFB in Canada and it helps us get the films we create out to the world.
Could you share a bit about your journey into filmmaking and animation? What initially drew you to these mediums?
It’s all about the emotion and magic in the storytelling! For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to the emotional journey that a film can take us on but also the feeling that we’ve entered a magical world where our earthbound rules don’t apply. I came to animation later in my filmmaking career, and when I discovered animation’s incredible storytelling possibilities, I began teaching myself animation. In the beginning, I’d add animated elements to my live-action film, but after fully falling in love with animation, these are the films I make.
What stories or projects are you excited to explore next?
Oh gosh, so many ideas and projects! I’m currently creating a commissioned animation that brings to life a body of research that Dalhousie University has compiled on youth and homelessness across Canada since the pandemic. I always have my own animation projects on the go and have begun working on a script for an animation about letter writing and friendship and how we learn to love. I’m also in the early stages of a graphic memoir about my complicated feelings about fashion. I never lack ideas, just the time I have to create everything I want to make!
