Experiencing Interruptions?

Potter's Mirror

Based on the themes of loss and grief through dementia, Potter's Mirror symbolically represents the internal structures of the mind. We follow the daily activities of the Watchman as he tends to his memories and nurtures new emerging ideas. All is well until a deterioration of the environment forces him to escape through the window.

  • Katherine O'Connor
    Director
    Kittie’s Dentures, A Silky Tail, Chimera Project: Middlesbrough
  • Katherine O'Connor
    Writer
  • Lorenzo Pelli
    Music Score
  • Lesley-anne Rose
    Producer
    Typed
  • Project Type:
    Animation
  • Genres:
    Animation, Drama, Uncanny, Surreal, Stop motion
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 36 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 30, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • StopTrik
    Maribor
    Slovenia
    September 25, 2024
    European Premier
    Official selection
  • StopTrik
    Łódź
    Poland
    December 5, 2024
    Official selection
  • Linea d'Ombra Festival
    Salerno
    Italy
    November 9, 2024
    Italian Premier
    VedoAnimato Contest
  • Animex Exhibition
    Middlesbrough
    United Kingdom
    November 10, 2024
    UK Premier
    Exhibition of Film Artefacts with Private View
  • London International Animation Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    November 24, 2024
    London
    British Showcase
  • Silver Wave International Film Festival

    Canada
    November 10, 2024
    Canadian Premier
    Best Animated Short
  • Thomas Eddison Film Festival
    US
    United States
    US Premier
    Jury's Citation Award
  • LA Animation Festival
    LA
    United States
    Honourable Mention
  • Moving Parts Arts Festival
    Newcastle
    United Kingdom
    April 26, 2025
    Curated Selection
Director Biography - Katherine O'Connor

Katherine O’Connor is an award winning director, writer and artist working across animation and installation. Based in the North East of England Katherine has written and directed short form animated films that have been screened internationally, notably Stuttgart Trickfilm International Animated Film Festival, Hiroshima International festival, BBC Three, Yorkshire Television, Channel 4 Rolling Stock Festival. Katherine’s Taxidermy installation works have been commissioned by galleries and museums within the Teesvalley area whilst her writings have been published as part of edited collections most recently the book The Uncanny and the Afterlife of the Gothic, edited by Manuela D’Amore.

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Director Statement

Based on my own experience of loss through Dementia. Potter's Mirror examines the minds fragility, the rituals of life and death. As my first stop motion work I am interested in the material nature of the medium and these additional layers of meaning that they can bring. The film experiments with unusual techniques such as animated taxidermy to question the nature of subjectivity, being human and the post-human turn. The themes of the film also explore the uncanny, the stranger within, a stranger that can be amplified by the loss of the mind through mental deterioration. Overall, however the film is predominantly an expression of loss, the loss of my own father to dementia as well as the broader human experience of grief.