"Mrs. Matisse"
1994, 4 Minutes

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In 1993 I went with a friend to the ginormous  Matisse exhibit at MOMA in New York. At first there were all these portraits of Matisse’s wife : Amélie in a Kimono, Amélie in the quay, Amélie in a hat.

Then there was a tiny little sign “Matisse  moved to the south of France by himself”

I remember saying to my friend, What happened to his wife?   

That was how my film  Mrs Matisse began. At the time there was no biographical information available about Amélie- so I made up based on my life and experience with divorce, Mrs. Matisse turned 50 gravity took its toll and Henri hit the road with younger models. 

After the film played at the New York Film Festival I got a letter from Matisse’s great granddaughter who lived in New York, she said “you hit the nail on the head.”

Mrs. Matisse was my first animated film.

Festivals and Awards

Annecy Film Festival  Best Sound Track   
Asifa East Best Entry 1995
La Biennale Di Venezia  Giovani Leoni Prize, 1994 Special Jury Award
New York Film Festival (Shown Opening day of festival)
Anima Mundi 1996
Autennacinematv Film Festival
Brisbane Film Festival
Cardiff Film Festival
Cartoombria Film Festival
Dublin Film Festival
Goteborg Film Festival
Kiev Film Festival
Kilbride Film Festival
London Film Festival
Mendrisio Film Festival
Minsk Film Festival
Ottawa Film Festival
Oxfordshire Film Festival
Sitges Film Festival
St.Petersburg Film Festival
Channel Four Television
Yleisradio Oy (Finnish Broadcasting)
Telepiu (Pay TV-Italy,Switzerland,Montecarlo)
SBS TV (Australia)
Canal Plus Television (France)
WGBH Boston 
Jacob Burns Center
Danish Library Centre 
Normal Ohio Film Festival 
Museum of Fine Arts Boston First Night Celebration 1996
Pay TV Canada
Museum of Modern Art  Film and Video Collection
Vevey Film Festival
Channel Four Television
Vevey Film Festival 
Leipsig Film Festival