AnimationWorld Magazine — November 9, 2018
State of Mind: Exploring Memory in Louise Bagnall’s ‘Late Afternoon’
A creative director at Cartoon Saloon, Bagnall has designed characters for International Emmy nominee Puffin Rock and the Oscar-nominated features Song of the Sea and The Breadwinner. She studied animation at the National Film School of Ireland and graduated in 2007, and has directed a number of other short films including Donkey (2009) and Loose Ends (2012). She is currently working as a story artist on director Tomm Moore’s upcoming feature film, Wolfwalkers.
While the idea for Late Afternoon had been gestating inside Bagnall’s sketchbook for a number of years, it was produced in just 10 months under a budget of €46,000 provided by the Frameworks short film scheme funded by the Irish film board, Screen Ireland, and national broadcaster RTÉ.
“I had been and reading and watching things about dementia, and it reminded me of when I was young seeing my parents my looking after their respective parents,” Bagnall relates. “As a child, I didn’t really see any problems and, in my head, my grandmothers were always these sweet old ladies. You see that side of them, and you don’t realize things maybe had changed for them along the way,” she says, noting that it was likely a difficult experience for her parents, who were more keenly aware of the changes taking place.