‘The 21′ Director Tod Polson
Cartoon Brew is placing the highlight on animated brief movies which have certified for the 2025 Oscars.
On this installment, we’re The 21 from American filmmaker Tod Polson. The brief earned its Oscars qualification via theatrical exhibition.
A brief movie honoring the 21 Coptic males murdered by ISIS in Libya in 2015, The 21 is crafted within the type of Coptic iconography by a world workforce of greater than 70 artists from greater than 24 international locations. Mixing live-action footage with animation, the movie serves as a strong tribute to the martyrs and a vibrant message in opposition to obscurantism.
Cartoon Brew: How has Neo-Coptic iconography impressed you and your workforce, and the way has this world group of artists been impressed by it to create this movie?

Tod Polson: The aim of an icon is to assist in devotion and contemplation, performing as a window into the divine. In the identical approach, I needed every body of the movie to provide the viewers a larger connection to the story of the martyrs, their religion, and all the pieces they skilled. To encourage contemplation. Stylistically, I leaned into the robust clear shapes of Neo-Coptic iconography. Many icons are painted on wooden or plaster, so it was vital to maintain a hand-crafted aesthetic within the textures and linework.
Most icons are composed vertically, symbolizing the connection between God and humanity. So, I selected to border most of The 21 within the outdated sq. Academy ratio (4:3). Within the last sequence of the movie the side ratio modifications to 16:9 to accommodate the clips of live-action footage from the unique ISIS video. A lot of the colour work was impressed by conventional iconography. Early on, Nikola Saric developed a refined colour palette for me, as my preliminary idea work had been overly saturated. All through the movie, I used gold to indicate the presence of God, making certain that even within the darkest moments, delicate glints of gold illuminated the design. Blue symbolized the heavenly realm, whereas black conveyed the essence of evil. Every colour was rigorously chosen due to its conventional that means, and to mirror and improve the emotional depth of the story. In step with the custom of iconography, many compositions within the movie are grounded in divine proportions, incorporating ideas such because the golden part, rabatment, and dynamic symmetry to strengthen the non secular and symbolic resonance of the visuals. There are numerous different facets of the movie linked to the divine. Even when audiences don’t perceive all these symbols, I hope they sense that there’s extra happening than meets the attention.
What was it about this story or idea that linked with you and compelled you to direct the movie?
The video launched by ISIS in 2015, depicting the horrific murders of 21 Coptic Christians, was surprising and deeply disturbing. The religion these males displayed within the face of loss of life was profoundly transferring. But, it was the response of their households and their outstanding message of forgiveness that went straight to my coronary heart. Regardless of their overwhelming grief, the households rejected hatred and vengeance. As an alternative, they prayed for the extremists, hoping that some would possibly come to know the love of Christ. Later, as I sat with the households of the martyrs in Egypt, seeing each ache and sincerity of their eyes, 21 blood stained orange jumpsuits in an adjoining room, their message of forgiveness grew to become much more highly effective. It was a life-changing second.
This identical testimony impressed producers Mandi Hart and Mark Rogers to pursue the thought of constructing a movie concerning the martyrs. They had been capable of increase a lot of the finances via donations and crowdfunding. On the time they approached me to direct, I had not too long ago left my place as a inventive director at Cartoon Saloon to concentrate on extra private movies exploring religion like The 21. All the things simply appeared to fall into place. Although this was simply considered one of numerous violent acts within the area, the martyrs’ story shines a lightweight on a message of forgiveness that feels particularly pressing in our more and more fractured world. The 21 doesn’t glorify violence; relatively, it exposes its absurdity.
What did you study via the expertise of constructing this movie, both production-wise, filmmaking-wise, creatively, or about the subject material?
Creating The 21 has been one of many largest adventures of my life. Throughout manufacturing, I had the privilege of assembly unimaginable folks from around the globe — journalists, iconographers, animators, theologians, and historians. Once I started my analysis, I had solely a handful of pals in Egypt and knew little or no about Egyptian tradition, not to mention Coptic Christianity. My understanding of iconography was fundamental — definitely not sufficient to have interaction with it in any significant approach. Though I’m a follower of Christ, I’ve made each effort to inform the story of The 21 from a impartial standpoint. I relied closely on accounts gathered via leaders of the Coptic church, interviews with members of the family of the martyrs who had been in Libya on the time of the kidnappings, testimony from imprisoned ISIS guards, and experiences from Libyan police and journalists embedded with the Libyan military. Throughout the manufacturing of the movie I’ve realized how darkish hate will be. However the overwhelming love I’ve skilled from most everybody I’ve come into contact with has far overshadowed that.
Are you able to describe the way you developed your visible strategy to the movie, why you settled on this type/method, and the way this formed the ultimate work?
From the start, it was clear that The 21 could be a 2nd movie. Coptic Egyptians have an extended custom of martyrdom, and creating icons of these martyrs. An icon-inspired design strategy appeared the most effective and solely actual selection for the brief. Icons by Nikola Saric, Edmon Kamel, and Tony Rezk, had been created shortly after the ISIS video was launched, and had already develop into highly effective symbols within the Coptic group by the point I began engaged on the movie. Thankfully all three artists had been prepared to talk into the type of the movie. Edmon had really painted lots of the icons within the martyrs’ residence church in Higher Egypt and knew the households of the lads. He and his spouse Marina grew to become an ideal bridge to the households there.
Artists working in Lviv, Ukraine, have lengthy impressed me. Lyuba Yatskiv, Ivanka Demchuk, Khrystyna Kvyk, Sergii Radkevych, Kostko Markovych, and many others. are all doing new and thrilling issues with very conventional themes. Their work may be very private, being representational and emotional on the identical time. I took the identical strategy whereas growing the look of The 21, soaking in several facets of iconography and filtering it via my very own worldview. The look of the movie was additionally closely impressed by artwork actions resembling Vorticism, Precisionism, Futurism, and Cubism. For probably the most half these actions rejected sentimentality and traditionalism, and encompassed concepts of fascism. I used to be attempting to venture the feelings of the characters via a tough, shattered, damaged world.