"Little From the Fish Shop" - A True-to-Tale Little Mermaid

Everything I've read about this film project is quite fascinating and I can't quite believe I've only recently learned of it. Little From the Fish Shop (malá z rybárny in Czech) is reportedly very faithful to the Hans Christian Andersen original text of The Little Mermaid, despite that it's setting is modern and on dry land. The stop motion animation puppets are delightfully different (I have some close-ups pictured in this post) oh and it's important to mention, despite being a fairy tale and made in an animated medium, it's not primarily aimed at, as the review below puns, "small fry".

Here's a summary from the official  Facebook page:

They were forced to abandon the familiar waters of their home, plundered by the humans, and move out onto dry land to live in a bustling harbor district. They’ve exchanged their underwater palace for a humble little fish shop. This is a story about the Sea King and his youngest daughter Little. Her days were filled with small pleasures and naive dreams about the life out there, then she saw J.J. for the first time and her heart came alive. She decided to accept the witch’s harsh curse. Forsaking her family Little took to the world of humans to follow her fatal love. Will the flame of her love burn bright or will it die in the deep waters of the sea?

Here are a couple of trailers, and I have to say, I'm quite fascinated by these glimpses!

 Here's an excerpt from a review in Variety:

Relocating not just Andersen’s yearning heroine but her entire royal family to dry land, Jan Balej’s wittily designed stop-motion outing honors the sorrowful romantic narrative of the original tale to a far greater extent than the Mouse House’s 1989 smash — despite a radical shift in milieu to the red-light district of a seamy city harbor. Not especially suitable for, er, small fry, this touching, technically inventive twist on a classic will nonetheless be treasured by animation buffs.  

...It’s no longer better down where it’s wetter, a somewhat elegiac prologue informs us, as we peer into silty depths made murkier by stray debris and floating garbage. The film’s ecological allegory is limited to this introduction, but it’s effective enough: So greatly have the oceans been polluted by humankind that not even the merfolk can survive in them. Instead, the Sea King and his family have been forced to move to the nearest port, where they learn to walk on their tails and work as fishmongers — about the most drastically macabre betrayal of their natural environment imaginable. (The fishiness of Balej’s merpeople extends well past their lower halves: Glassy round eyes and perma-pouts suggest rampant interspecific breeding in the fathoms below.) 

As in Andersen’s tale, then, the King’s youngest daughter — simply named Little — develops a fascination with human behavior, albeit one cultivated at closer quarters. Forbidden from exiting the family shop before her 16th birthday, she enters the outside world a mass of vulnerable, pent-up curiosity, swiftly and unguardedly falling in love with older lothario JJ.

Note: look at all those laurels! That's something to take note of. I really hope we get a chance to see it in the US, UK and Australia. (Dubbing shouldn't be an issue, as apparently the 'speaking sounds' are mostly nonsensical and as a result, fairly universal.)

You can read the whole review HERE (possible spoilers though). If you don't want to spoil anything for yourself you may be interested to know this is doing well with critics, both for the story portrayal/translation and the use of stop motion and 'grotesque' design ('grotesque' here, meaning the art movement style, which works well for the fishy features, not meaning that it's difficult to look at necessarily).

The film is currently screening in the Czech Republic along with what appears to be a truly delightful exhibition of puppets, sets, 3D printing and interactive experiences for children and adults and behind-the-scenes fare.

It also has 'festival slots' at Annecy and Karlovy Vary, which point to a distinct likelihood that it will get picked up for international distribution soon.

Forest Rogers Wins Gold Spectrum Award!

Venetian Harpy  by Forest Rogers

The 22nd Spectrum Awards (for science fiction and fantasy art in all mediums) were recently held and one of my favorite fairy tale illustrators and sculptors, Forest Rogers, won a gold award in the Dimensional category, for her stunning and amazing Venetian Harpy (see above).

Congratulations Forest!!

Note: I should also mention that Scott Gustafson, who has illustrated many a fairy tale picture book, received the Grand Master Award!

Though Forest Rogers doesn't exclusively work on fairy tale subjects she has made, and continues to create, many memorable fairy tale-based pieces, and from little bits I pick up around social media, she's looking at continuing/completing the Vasilissa illustrations she began many years ago (before she got into sculpting) and, off and on, has been researching The Crane Wife, as she'd apparently like to create a sculpture based on the Japanese fairy tale as well. (!!)

Below are some of her other fairy tale works to date, and perhaps you can see why I love her work so.

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga's Hut

Vasilissa with her mother's doll

Baba Yaga (still being dressed) & Vasilissa

Baba Yaga, Vasilissa and the Chicken-Legged Hut together

Snow Maiden as she melts

Banshee

Yuki Ona - snow spirit

East of the Sun (inspired by Kay Neilsen's illustration)

East of the Sun (2nd sculpt)

Swan child in progress

Hans Andersen's Little Mermaid

Silvershod (aka Silver Hoof) & his friend Cat (Russian tale)

Red Riding Hood in progress

Red Riding Hood & Wolf
(Something about this evokes Perrault and Dore and other early illustrated versions of LRRH to me.)

Vasiliss'a Mother gives her a doll before she passes away

Vaslissa enters Baba Yaga's forest

Baba Yaga tasks Vasilissa with impossible tasks

Vaslissa talks to her doll (and the doll talks back)

Baba Yaga in a rage

One of the horsemen Vasilissa sees on her journey

 You can see much more of Forest Roger's work on her website HERE and follow her on Facebook HERE and Twitter HERE. She also has a great set of boards on Pinterest HERE.

"Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of A Sea Witch" by Serena Valentino Now Releasing 2015

If you've been a fan of fairy tales and comics in particular, you're probably aware of the name Serena Valentino. She's also a multi-published novel author and is currently under contract with Disney Press to do a series of novels telling the stories of classic Disney villains. (Apparently, her fairy tale comics, Nightmares & Fairy Tales, were a major factor in her getting the Disney contract, which is interesting since they're very far from what is usually considered the "Disney brand" style and subject material.) Her first, Fairest Of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen, first published in August 2009 was impressive: lyrical, poetic, fresh and somehow still very true to the movie. I really loved it - both as an alternate look at Snow White and the character of the Queen and as a very different stand alone book. (We had an overview back in 2009 HERE.) To her credit, it didn't feel "Disney" as we usually think of either. I didn't expect it to stay on my "fairy tale retellings to keep in reach" bookcase, but it has a permanent place there.

Her second villain novel was The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince published July 2014. (Don't jump on me for calling The Beast a villain - you need to read the book to see just whom it's about and why it's a villain's story.) It shared some aspects of the first novel, in particular three intriguing, yet bizarre characters - Odd Sisters - who are very much like The Fates. Personally I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the first, although some of the pre-Belle's story scenes of The Beast trying to figure out relationships and friendships were wonderful.

We've known for a while now that she's been working on the third installment, based on Ursula from Disney's The Little Mermaid. (Yes, all of the books take the disney story as the starting point and develop from there, sometimes weaving back into classics, and Angela Carter, other times, moving somewhere altogether new.) While the title is yet to be confirmed, it looks like it will now be Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of a Sea Witch, and that the release date will be moving up from sometime in 2016 to this year instead. Ms. Valentino is currently working on the first pass editor notes for the completed draft (which was very favorable, hence the hint at an earlier release), and just this past week shared little bits from the first chapter.

Here's a sneak peek at the first glimpse:

And here's what she shared with her Facebook friends this week:

As you can see above, so far the covers for the series all show the "classic villain" on the outer dust jacket and the hard cover of the book shows the "unseen" side. I'm curious to know what the inner one will be for Ursula...

Note: A fan put this pic of the dual cover for Fairest together - creepy cool:

You can follow Serena Valentino for all her fairy tale writing news via her Twitter HERE and see her journal updates on her website HERE.

'The Little Mexmaid' by Cristina de Middel

As Mexican girls celebrate their coming of age at 15, when the Little Mermaid reaches this milestone she is officially be considered an adult and will be able to access the outside world of grown-up humans (Picture: Cristina de Middel/Nikon) 

Since we're (still) on the subject of The Little Mermaid, and specifically updating the classic story with modern and relevant-to-girls today themes, I thought this would be a good time to share a photo series I recently saw and bookmarked to share.

Nikon challenged three award wining photographers from different countries to update a classic fairy tale. The catch was they could only use four photos to do this and to tell a new version of the story. The stories chosen were Red Riding Hood, Snow White and The Little Mermaid. While the Red Riding Hood results were fun and had an interesting statement, (which you can see HERE) my favorite series by far was The Little Mermaid.

The photographer who chose The Little Mermaid was from Spain and on a recent trip to Mexico felt the fairy tale related very well to the coming of age traditions she saw being celebrated there. Cristina de Middel said she was inspired by the fiesta de quinceañera, or the introduction of a 'debutante' to the adult world, which is traditionally celebrated on the 15th birthday for girls, in Mexico.

Of her theme she said: ‘I saw first-hand the fascinating rites of passage in Mexico, and it reminded me instantly of the classic coming-of-age love story in The Little Mermaid.’

Middel titled her series The Little Mexmaid (which, incidentally, feels really weird to write. I presume Nikon wouldn't have published this title if there was an issue...). The first photo is at the head of the post, the rest are below and the photographer's captions are below each one:

Upon arrival in the human world, the Mermaid trades her fishtail for legs so she can experience what it feels like to be an adult woman. She goes to the Salon Los Angeles, a famous venue in Mexico City for ‘Sweet 15′ celebrations (Picture: Cristina de Middel/Nikon) 

The mermaid meets a Prince, who is a traditional Mexican Mariachi. The couple dance and she falls deeply in love with him. (Picture: Cristina de Middel/Nikon) 

Eventually rejected by the Prince for a Princess of the human world, the Little Mermaid sacrifices herself for love by exploding into fireworks. (Cristina de Middel/Nikon)

Here's the series altogether. Pretty poignant stuff: