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About the short film

Memories from the Holocaust have been portrayed in almost every medium, but rarely animation -- and never before by a child animator. Animated short film "INGRID PITT: BEYOND THE FOREST" is a cross-generational collaboration between a world-class animation master, two-time Academy Award-nominated Bill Plympton, and a first-time animator, 11-year-old artist Perry Chen. It is narrated by Ingrid Pitt herself.

Starting with Ingrid Pitt's poignant narration and Bill Plympton's 23 traditional pencil sketches as storyboard, award-winning artist and film critic Perry Chen brings this moving story and its contemporary implications alive. Read more

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Kevin Sean Michaels
Director and Co-Producer

Kevin Sean Michaels at the Toronto Film Festival, September 2006

Kevin Sean Michaels was born and raised in New York City. He started making films at age thirteen with a Super 8 home movie camera in the style of early silent films. Michaels was the Art Director for Troma Entertainment for three and a half years, working closely with filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman on Troma's film Poultrygeist! Night of the Chicken Dead, as well as numerous DVD extras. He and his wife, Theodora Michaels, founded the production company VAMP Productions in 2005.

Michaels is known for his documentaries. Vampira: The Movie, his first documentary, was released by Alpha New Cinema in 2008 and won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Independent Film. In 2010 Alpha New Cinema also released his second documentary, The Wild World of Ted V.Mikels, about the grind-house filmmaker. In 2008, Michaels met David Lynch and began producing Beyond The Noise: My Transcendental Meditation Journey about Dana Farley, a teenager who is using Transcendental Meditation to help her deal with problems including learning disabilities. The documentary stars Lynch and will be playing festivals in 2011 through 2012.

Michaels is currently touring in support of a short animated film called Ingrid Pitt: Beyond The Forest, narrated by Pitt about her experience during the Holocaust.

IMDB listing