Collection: Our Projects
Koi Sisters is a 2D design house founded by Lou Pengilly and Cath Murphy to fund animation traineeships for marginalised people who train on Pollyannafilms professional animation projects. Images used in the Koi Sisters product line are derived from animations created by trainees at Pollyannafilms.
Pollyannafilms founding Director, Cath Murphy, has worked as a Registered Nurse in mental health and as a professional animator for over 25 years. Cath’s VCA student film Like Drowning won Best Overall Script from a Graduating Student and the Erwin Rado award for Special Achievement in Film. Her professional shorts have screened locally and overseas, have been acquired by international broadcasters and won numerous awards.
Lou Pengilly trained and worked in film for several years as an actor and in costume design on professional TV series and features. Lou continues to design clothes for her own business Okuden in Northcote and Hurstbridge.
Lou and Cath now Co Produce Pollyannafilms’ animation productions to facilitate incidental learning through media for trainees. Pollyannafilms’ focus group is older women who have experienced disadvantage through lack of digital education which has impacted on their employment opportunities.
Current Animation Projects
Socially Sanctioned is an animated series of short documentaries about socially sanctioned abuse.
In White Goods ( Ep.1), Moss describes her experience of coerced adoption. White Goods won a 2022 Incinerator Gallery Social Impact Award and screened at Flickerfest Best of Docs. It was nominated for Best Animation at the St Kilda FF 2021and acquired by IVOX media in the US.
In A Tough Gig (Ep. 2) Megan describes the impact of 25 years as a Mental Health nurse and her subsequent PTSD and Chronic Fatigue.
Pollyannafilms is currently in production on (Ep.3) I’m a Bush Pig where Narelle talks about her ability to take a truck apart and put it back together, bone a cow in 5 minutes and her work as a security guard in a high security prison. Narelle describes the undisguised sexism in typically male work environments.
Complicit is an animated documentary feature currently in production based on an interview with Mary Brabenec who worked as a registered nurse at many of Australia’s detention centres. Mary gives a candid description of the mistreatment of refugees in Australia after the Tampa incident.
Socially Sanctioned and Complicit have both been endorsed by the Documentary Australia Foundation for DGR 1 deductible tax donations.
Our Training Technique
Trainee animators on our professional projects learn to use Adobe Photoshop Elements- a diagram-based program which requires no experience. Each Photoshop tool has a corresponding letter which facilitates incidental digital and literacy learning motivating participants to learn more about the program. Adobe create leading graphics and media programs and animation and media are growth industries locally and overseas. Skills gained on our project are transferrable to many industries and trainees are supported to explore pathways within our organization and externally.
Past Animation Projects
In 2009 Cath started offering animation as an incidental learning experience to marginalised youth on the West Coast of Victoria. In 2011 Berry St commissioned Cath to direct an animation project at the Shepparton English Language Centre (SELC). SELC prepares newly arrived teenagers for high school. Many students, particularly the girls, have never been to school and all of them struggle with language and cultural isolation. Pollyannafilms has helped SELC students create three animations: A Family of Weddings awarded Best Middle School Animation at the 2011Australian Teachers of Media Awards (ATOM); Culture Bowl nominated for Best Professional Documentary Short at the 2013 ATOM awards and SELC’s recent animation 2Boys 1Girl 1Chicken nominated for Best Senior School Animation at the 2022 ATOM awards and and screened at the 2023 St Kilda Film Festival. In 2023 Creative Victoria funded the 4th project with SELC through its Creative Learning Partnerships program and students and teachers at SELC completed animation training as Professional Development for future projects.
A number of older women have joined Pollyannafilms as trainee animators including CALD trainees who came to Pollyannafilms via the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre- Women’s Empowerment Program. In 2023 Ebtehag Mesak our bilingual Arabic/English trainee was funded by the Scanlon Foundation to continue her training with Pollyannafilms. One of our animation trainees, Lynne Pearson, is self-taught in digital music production. Lynne was offered the opportunity to compose the music for the latest SELC animation 2Boys 1Girl 1Chicken. It is an impressive composition and Lynne is now working on the music score for our feature documentary Complicit (trailer).
Our Community Partnerships
Many trainees came to us seeking an alternative learning or work experience. Pollyannafilms has worked in partnership with Wise Employment for people who have struggled to maintain employment in traditional business settings. We offer a stress-free experience with paid entry level training in all aspects of our project.
In December 2023 Cath was invited to start an Animation project by Poni Tongun and Lydia Wandabwa at Quaker Hill Academy in Nairobi, Kenya. The Academy was founded by Margaret Wandabwa over 20 years ago to educate and care for the disadvantaged children around and within her community. Margaret, now in her 80’s lives with her husband on an adjacent farm and Margaret and her family have fed and educated the children at the Academy without any external assistance. A number of the children are orphans and live on site. After returning to Australia Cath continued with online animation consultation with teachers from Quaker Hill in 2024 to attract funding and new students to the school.
Our community partner Ondru offers Visual Arts as a means of processing trauma. Ondru’s founding Director, Desh Balasubramaniam, has kindly offered to auspice Pollyannafilms for DGR 1 status as a charity.
Cath has maintained a longstanding relationship with the VCA Film School at Melbourne University who have supported Pollyannafilms with community project funding and post-production facilities.
Our Funders and Supporters have include: the Scanlon Foundation; Jack Brockhoff Foundation; Sunnyside Foundation; Melbourne University; SELC; Australian Philanthropic Services; ASRC; Victoria University; Berry Street; Documentary Australia Foundation; VCA Film School; Victoria University; The Social Window; City of Port Phillip; Ondru; Creative Victoria: a number of generous private investors and many individuals who have volunteered to assist with completion of our projects.
Pollyannafilms’ vision is to contribute to a new approach to education for marginalised people needing an inclusive, non-pressured learning experience. Trainees are offered a contemporary, holistic approach using digital and permaculture learning experiences while working at their own pace in a supported environment.. As trainees gain confidence, they will be offered the opportunity to train others and explore other skills while working at Pollyannafilms.
We are very proud of our project and look forward to offering many more traineeships in the future.
Cath Murphy
Director
pollyannafilms@gmail.com