University of Newcastle visual communications lecturer and animator, Jane Shadbolt, has been internationally recognised for her stop-motion animation The Cartographer.

The Cartographer has been selected to screen at two international film festivals – the St Louis International Film Festival in November and the Lady Filmmakers Film Festival in Beverly Hills, USA. Both festivals are held in high regard by members of the film-making community for showcasing innovative and cutting edge material.

Jane directed and produced the stop-motion animation, an epic story in miniature about a girl who has to map the entire world. Told in 11 minutes of puppet animation, it stars Paula Arundell, Joel Edgerton and Toby Moor and was made by a crew of over 30 people over four years.

Stop-motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.

“Animation has evolved from a small field to such a competitive industry. I was thrilled to be selected to screen at such well-recognised international festivals,” Jane said.

The Cartographer achieved success in two categories at the prestigious Australian Production Design Guild (APDG) Awards in September. Jane received the ENCORE APDG award for design on a short film and Bill McGuire, The Cartographer’s visual effects artist received the Qantm APDG award for a visual effect.