Watch This: 'Ginevra'

Ginevra is an animated short made by the award-winning filmmaker Tess Martin. The film has arrived online, following screenings at  Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington, New York's Animation Block Party and the KLIK! Animation Festival in Amsterdam.

Ginevra is based on an unfinished poem by Percy Shelley, published posthumously in 1824. It is part of the Campfire Poetry Project, a series of animated shorts inspired by poetry from the late 19th and early 20th Century, produced by Max Rothman for Monticello Park Productions.

The film boasts some remarkable visuals, using an intricate paper cut-out technique to great effect. It was produced on a multi-plane animation stand using stiff paper. Martin describes the film's style: "Aesthetically, the film draws inspiration from bas-relief paper sculptures, the Renaissance time period of the legend referenced by the poem, and the strong lighting of films like Blade Runner".

The use of paper gives the film a stark look, with a minimalist palette that creates an intricately crafted world which is almost entirely white. Colour is brought into this world using the lighting, bathing some sections in reds, or allowing orange or yellow to creep in, giving it the appearance of being bathed in the light of a sunrise or sunset. It contrasts beautifully with the characters and locations which look as if they could have been carved from marble.

The poem that inspired the film is called The Dirge, which in turn was inspired by the urban legend of a woman named  Ginevra degli Almieri, who was said to have woken up a full day after her death. 

You can visit Tess's website to find out more, or follow her on Twitter. Check out the film, below.

Ginevra (2017) from Tess Martin on Vimeo.