“New Moon,” one of this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short, is the imaginative, surreal journey of young JJ and his mother Eddie. Their inner city dreams are illuminated by the New Moon accompanied by his magic Aretha Franklin playing a summer’s eve on a transistor radio in their West Philadelphia backyard. Watch an exclusive new trailer above.
The short film has been adapted by the Emmy Award-winner Coleman Domingoof the play entitled “A Boy and His Soul”. It is dedicated to black mothers and sons and the love and inspiration that keeps them inspired through countless hardships. In addition to writing the story, Colman voices each of the characters.
Coleman’s husband and creative partner Raul Domingo served as co-writer and co-director. They worked with animators Jérémie Balais and Jeff LeBars to bring that story to the screen.
In a joint statement, Colman and Raúl expressed: “In the summer of 2020, during such turmoil around the world, we sought to build a partnership with two strangers in Lyon, France who showed such heart and soul in their work. animation. We started our work seriously online. Through Dropbox folders, video conferences, language barriers, hours rotoscoping sessions directed and filmed by Raoul, where Coleman happened to be on the planet. We went down the rabbit hole of this strange but rewarding journey of adapting a small piece of text into a full animated storytelling experience while still maintaining its theatrical origins. We had no idea what we were creating or how to actually do it. We just knew we found partners who wanted to send a beautiful message to the world that is basically about the love of mothers, black boys, dreams and the strength of Aretha Franklin. We are very excited to share New Moon with the world.”
After completing several acclaimed performances in San Francisco, Off Broadway, London and Australia, Colman was asked several times to repeat his solo performance of “A Boy and His Soul”, but ultimately felt he needed to evolve from the stage. Raoul, Coleman’s creative partner, suggested animating a portion of the show to depict a world in which vivid imagination lived and could be achieved. This was the beginning of a happy two-year partnership with Jeff and Jérémie on all continents at the beginning of the global pandemic. All work including rotoscope, ADR, etc. they’ve been done via Zoom, Dropbox and telecommunications without ever meeting in person. As of this date, they still haven’t. Jeff speaks no English, Raoul and Coleman speak little French, but the power of telling this short matter this medium has bound them with images, sound and passion.
PREDICT the 2023 Oscar nominees until January 24
Make your predictions in Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices the Android (Google Play) to compete with legions of other fans as well as our experts and editors for the best prediction accuracy scores. Check out ours latest predictions champions. Can you conquer the remarkable leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions up-to-date because they factor in our latest on-track odds that terrorize captains and Hollywood stars. Don’t miss out on the fun. Talk and share your funny opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk daily to watch the latest award shows. Everyone wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
“Falls down a lot. Unapologetic alcohol guru. Travel specialist. Amateur beer trailblazer. Award-winning tv advocate. Hipster-friendly twitter aficionado”