Two One Two

Shira Avni is an animation filmmaker and Associate Professor of Film Animation at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Her animated documentary films (John and Michael, Tying Your Own Shoes, and Petra's Poem), produced in partnership with the National Film Board of Canada, have garnered over 30 international awards, including the prestigious DOK Leipzig Golden Dove and the NHK Japan Prize, and have screened in over 120 festivals worldwide. Her 2023 film, Two One Two, has won 4 international awards to date, including the Special Jury Prize at the Sommets du Cinéma d'animation. Two One Two begins its public life with over 35 festival screenings, in Chicago, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Washington, Calgary, Lunenburg, Montreal, Ottawa, Percé, Quebec City, Vancouver, Australia, Cyprus, Germany, Korea, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uruguay, the UK, and more. She holds an MFA in Film/Video/New Media from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2003).

Avni is the proud recipient of a 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award at Concordia, where she teaches Under Camera animation, Animated Documentary, and Advanced Animation Filmmaking. Her current research weaves documentary, animation, and personal memoir to address neurodiversity, identity, social justice, motherhood, and interdependence through luminous clay-on-glass animation, back-lit to create the shimmering effect of stained glass in motion.

Filmography:

Petra’s Poem, 2012, National Film Board of Canada, 4min. https://www.nfb.ca/film/petras_poem/
3D stereoscopic video/animation. Directed and animated by Shira Avni.
Premiered at HotDocs Documentary Film Festival in May 2012. Screened in 19 festivals in Australia, Canada, Europe, India, Korea, USA, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Tying Your Own Shoes, 2009, National Film Board of Canada. 16min11. https://www.nfb.ca/film/tying_your_own_shoes/
Directed, written, and animated by Shira Avni. Official submission by the National Film Board of Canada to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 2010 Oscar consideration, Short Documentary category. Winner of 8 awards including the DOK Leipzig Golden Dove for Best Short Documentary Film and the NHK Japan Prize, and nominated for the BaKaForum SRG SSR idée Suisse Prize.

John and Michael, 2005, National Film Board of Canada. 10min28, Clay-on-glass animation. https://www.nfb.ca/film/john_and_michael/
Written, directed, and animated by Shira Avni. Winner of 18 international awards, grants, and nominations, including the DOXA Short Documentary Award, the Worldfest Silver Remi Award, and a Banff International Television Award nomination. Screened in over 80 Film Festivals worldwide.