Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice!
A woman's meticulously organized routine gets upended when her home starts to unravel and reality starts to creep in. The film tackles the issues of violence and oppression that underlie domestic life, examining the uneven division of household chores, the unspoken suffering women endure, and the constant presence of authority that reinforces gender roles within the home. It also explores how young girls are socialised into becoming perfect homemakers, exposed to these expectations through every aspect of their lives, including observing the women around them dutifully adhering to the same scripts.
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Anoushka AgarwalDirector
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Eleanor Fineston-RobertsonMusic and Sound Design
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Agnishikha RayKey Cast
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Jia BrahmakshatriyaKey Cast
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Nitya RamloganShooting Assistant
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Guy NesfieldCinematography Support
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Umang MankodiyaCinematography Support
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Annie RichardsonTechnical Support
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Luke PaineTechnical Support
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Joe HirstSound Mix
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Isabel WoodingsMusicians
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Jack DavisMusicians
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Jess FaberMusicians
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Abigail AddisonSpecial Thanks
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Amir JahanbinSpecial Thanks
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Carol MacGavillraySpecial Thanks
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Ian GouldstoneSpecial Thanks
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Joe KingSpecial Thanks
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Stuti BansalSpecial Thanks
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Project Type:Animation, Short, Student
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Runtime:3 minutes 53 seconds
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Completion Date:July 10, 2023
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Production Budget:500 GBP
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes - Royal College of Art
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Digital Cinema Package:Unavailable
Anoushka Agarwal is an animator and communication designer from Kanpur, India. She is a storyteller, invested in themes around feminism, body, mind and equity.
Anoushka did her undergraduate degree in Communication Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and was awarded the Entry Scholarship (Academic) throughout her studies. She also studied at Oxford University during this period and did her Student Exchange Programme at Copenhagen School of Design and Technology (KEA). She had an internship at Kurikindi Center, South Korea, and worked as a communication designer at Ladyfingers. Co, India, before pursuing animation at the Royal College of Art. She has also worked as an animator on Bussing Out, an immersive, multimedia installation produced by Theatre in the Mill.
Anoushka’s sensitivity and curiosity have been amplified by her educational, work and personal experiences around the globe. With animation, she found a medium to express these stories.
There is a darkness one can convey in animation, which provides the guise of being a child’s medium. One can portray the deepest emotions where verbal expression falls short. The itch that we all feel internally can be metaphorically depicted in animation, which is what I approach in my creative practice.
I am an observer interested in the small interactions of our everyday existence. My work is often self-reflexive, capturing my experiences or of patterns of behaviours that I have noticed in those around me. Creating an animation is a cathartic exploration of my inner self and allows me a space to express my vulnerability.
Materiality, tactility and textures are central to my work and inform every decision of my research, as I want to create a visceral journey for the viewer, to bridge the gap between the screen and the physical. I experiment with various techniques such as watercolour on paper, risograph printing, puppet stop motion, and paint on glass, alongside digital 2D animation. I picked up the handicraft of crochet during Covid as a way to deal with the anxiety of being trapped indoors, and this opened up a new territory of research for me as I started questioning the roles of women within households and what womanhood entails. It started from a place of anger but has transformed into a constructive pathway for me to analyse non-dominant groups within society. My works aim to create awareness and visibility of underrepresented narratives.