IndieWire — January 24, 2022
How Oscar-Contending Animated Short ‘Affairs of the Art’ Continues Harnessing Family Obsessions

Beryl is back, and this time she’s bringing her family along for the ride. Featuring the irrepressible working-class Welsh housewife at the height of her artistic powers, director Joanna Quinn and writer-producer Les Mills’ “Affairs of the Art” is a boisterous and heartwarming celebration of one family’s peculiar obsessions.

A co-production between the National Film Board of Canada and Beryl Productions International, the 16-minute, hand-drawn animated short film continues the series that began with the duo’s 1987 film “Girls Night Out,” followed by “Body Beautiful” (1990) and “Dreams & Desires — Family Ties” (2006).

Quinn and Mills have won numerous awards for their films and commercials, including four BAFTAs, three Emmys, and two Academy Award nominations for “Famous Fred” (1997) and “Wife of Bath – Canterbury Tales Part 1” (1998). And the BAFTA- and Oscar-shortlisted “Affairs of the Art” has racked up at least 25 international awards, including a jury award for special distinction at the Annecy Festival.

Quinn’s trademark visual style is fluid and dynamic with loose, broad pencil strokes, complemented by Mills’ wildly funny script, which has Beryl reflecting on her family’s obsessions as she muses on her own journey as an artist. (Read full story…)