Female Directing Duo Studio Desk Signs to Jelly

​New York and London-based animation production company and illustration agency Jelly have recently signed Studio Desk - a multi-award award winning, craft-driven animation studio led by the dynamic duo that is Emily Downe and Kathrin Steinbacher.

Studio Desks’s films have been screened at numerous festivals around the world including Annecy, Slamdance, Ann Arbor, Cinanima, LIAF and Tricky Women Festival, Animafest Zagreb whilst Kathrin's film 'In Her Boots' has recently been nominated for a BAFTA.

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The duo bring with them a style that is earthy, textured and vibrant with an edge of fantasy.

Studio Desk commented: “We are drawn to projects that are about the real world; whether it’s a personal story, environmental issues, ideas, science, futuristic predictions etc. anything that animation can be used to communicate the real in a visually compelling and digestible way. That also extends to our visual style which has that hand-rendered, painterly quality to it that shows the direction and pressure of our brushstroke, revealing the human touch.” 

The duo's collaborative film #FlattenTheCurve - consisting of three shorts expressing how different people are dealing with the Covid-19 situation through animation - saw over 90 animators from around the world contribute uplifting clips based on their time in lockdown. The result? A diverse range of wonderfully colourful takes on 'the new normal', reminding people of the benefits that come from staying at home.