Private Project

North of Blue

“Inspired by the chilling and mysterious winter landscapes of the Yukon, North of Blue is a mesmerizing non-narrative exploration giving form to the formless and offering shifting focal points and patterns that explore tensions between the recognizable and the strange.

Bursting with lively colours and dynamic shapes, North of Blue is abstract art come to life. Conventional silhouettes are deconstructed, stripping away meanings and associations to free the mind for a wildly subjective visit to the north. A dreamlike façade, North of Blue is a stunning symphony which speaks to the explorer in us all.” -Chris Robinson, Ottawa International Animation Festival

“An utterly absorbing abstract feature inspired by the mysterious far north Canadian winter landscapes.” -Melbourne International Animation Festival

  • Joanna Priestley
    Director
    “The queen of independent animation!" -Justin Johnson, British Film Institute
  • Joanna Priestley
    Producer
  • Jamie Haggerty
    Sound Designer
  • Jamie Haggerty
    Music Composer
  • Brian Kinkley
    Paint effects and title design
  • Chris Barber
    Additional Sound Effects
  • Neisje Morrell and Don Flores
    Assistant Animators
  • Rachel Bradley, Jesse Bray, Gabe Mangold and Dui Oray
    Animation Assistants
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Feature
  • Genres:
    Trance
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 7 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 1, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    19,400 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Annecy International Animation Festival
    Annecy
    France
    June 11, 2018
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Melbourne Internatonal Animation Festival
    Melbourne
    Australia
    June 17, 2018
    Australian Premiere
    Official Competition
  • Palm Springs International Animation Festival
    Palm Springs, CA
    United States
    August 25, 2018
    North American Premiere
    Official Competition
  • International Animated Film Festival ANIMATOR
    Poznan
    Poland
    July 9, 2018
    Polish Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Insomnia International Animation Film Festival
    Moscow
    Russian Federation
    June 15, 2018
    Russian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Australian International Animation Festival
    Brisbane
    Australia
    August 4, 2018
    Official Competition
  • Ottawa International Animation Festival
    Ottawa
    Canada
    September 28, 2018
    Canadian Premiere
    Official Competition
  • Pixelatl Festival
    Cuernavaca
    Mexico
    September 6, 2018
    Mexican Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    April 15, 2019
    South American Premiere
    Official Competition
  • Local Sightings Film Festival
    Seattle, WA
    United States
    September 22, 2018
    Washington Premiere
    Best Sound Design Award and Best Composer Award
  • Anim’Est International Animation Festival
    Bucharest
    Romania
    September 30, 2018
    Romanian Premiere
    Official Competition
  • AnimaSyros International Animation Festival + Agora
    Athens
    Greece
    September 28, 2018
    Greek Premiere
    Official Competition
  • ANIMAGE International Animation Festival
    Pernambuco
    Brazil
    October 16, 2018
    Brazilian Premiere
    Official Competition
  • SPARK Animation 2018
    Vancouver
    Canada
    October 18, 2018
    Official Competition
  • Australian International Animation Festival
    Cairns, Queensland
    Australia
    August 16, 2018
    Official Competition
  • Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival
    Portland, Oregon
    United States
    November 3, 2018
    Oregon Premiere
    Official Competition
  • Los Angeles CineFest
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    January 19, 2019
    Semi-finalist
  • ReAnimania Int. Animation Film & Comics Art Festival
    Yerevan
    Armenia
    October 31, 2018
    Armenian Premiere
    Official Competition
  • Los Angeles Animation Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    December 1, 2018
    Best Feature Film
  • Moscow Animation Marathon, Solyanka State Gallery
    Moscow
    Russian Federation
    November 8, 2018
    Russian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Yosemite International Film Festival
    Yosemite, CA
    United States
    November 2, 2018
    Best Animated Film Award
  • Animae Caribe Animation and Digital Arts Festival
    Port of Spain
    Trinidad and Tobago
    November 22, 2018
    Carribbean Premiere
    Official Competition
  • VOID International Animation Film Festival
    Copenhagen
    Denmark
    January 30, 2019
    Denmark Premiere
    Official Competition
  • Mostra Internacional Films des Donas de Barcelona
    Barcelona
    Spain
    December 10, 2018
    Official Competition
  • Athens International Film and Video Festival
    Athens, Ohio
    United States
    April 3, 2019
    Ohio Premiere
    Official Competition
  • Xcèntric Festival
    Barcelona
    Spain
    April 4, 2019
    Official Selection
  • Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    April 12, 2019
    Argentina Premiere
    Official Competition
  • Stockholm Experimental Animation Film Festival
    Stockholm
    Sweden
    April 29, 2019
    Sweden Premiere
    Official Competition
  • CHILEMONOS International Animation Festival
    Santiago
    Chile
    May 8, 2019
    Chile Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Fantoche International Animation Festival
    Baden
    Switzerland
    September 3, 2019
    Switzerland Premiere
    Official Competition
  • IndieCork Film Festival
    Cork
    Ireland
    October 13, 2019
    Ireland Premiere
    Official Competition
  • Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival (Baltimore, MD, USA) 10-19-19
    Baltimore, MD
    United States
    October 19, 2019
    Maryland Premiere
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • Priestley Motion Pictures
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Joanna Priestley

Joanna Priestley has directed, animated and produced an abstract animated feature, North of Blue, 27 award winning short films and an iOS app. Her work maintains a high level of porosity between serious exploration of boundaries and intuitive whimsy and she is dedicated to experimentation in technique, theme and content. Priestley has had retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Center for Contemporary Art (Warsaw, Poland), American Cinematheque (Los Angeles, CA), Hiroshima Animation Festival (Japan), Jenju International Film Festival (Korea) and Stuttgart Animation Festival (Germany) and she has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute, the MacDowell Colony, Fundación Valparaíso and Creative Capital. Priestley was founding president of ASIFA Northwest and has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1992, where she annually juries the Student Academy Awards and the Nicholl Screenplay Fellowships. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, director/production designer Paul Harrod, and two cats.

"She's the queen of independent animation." -Bill Plympton

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

North of Blue began when I was invited to be filmmaker-in-residence for a winter month at the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, near the Arctic Circle. I photographed the environment and began animating snow, ice, braided rivers, spindly trees and crows. I layered images and experimented with using photographic backgrounds under the hand drawn animation. As the project developed into a feature, I pared down the animation to abstract lines and shapes, and, to develop the structure, created groups of scenes with with touchstone elements like simple blue balls and totemic sculptural aggregations. The palette was influenced by the grid paintings of Piet Mondrian: blue, red, white and black with yellow and green accents. North of Blue is anchored with evocative music and sound design by Jamie Haggerty and elegant compositing and paint effects by Brian Kinkley.