"Kin" - The 1st Gorgeous, Fairy Tale Must-See, Short Film of the "Kin Fables" Series

A request from me: please put aside 8-ish minutes and make it a priority to see this!

I just saw this short film, made this year, a few days ago and it's the first I've heard of this series of short fantasy fables. I don't know why it isn't everywhere.

It's like visual poetry and is, quite simply, stunning and mesmerizing.

Just look at these screen grabs:








There is no dialogue in this short, only a song and visuals that move like a dream brought to life. The cinematography is amazing. Every frame is beautiful.

Kin is apparently the first of four short films under the banner of "Kin Fables", with the remaining three titled Salvage, Her & the River and Requiem.

Here's a note from GeekTyrant, which is where I first saw it:

Here's an amazingly stunning fantasy film called Kin, which is the first in a series of short fables, called Kin Fables, to be released by Five Knights Productions. The series is described as a musical and visual journey into fable. This one in particular was directed by Seb and Ben McKinnon. 

I don't really know what else to say except if you don't see this and love fairy tales, you are missing out. Take a look. If you're not hooked after the first minute I'll be very surprised.

There is a beautiful website with more information about this film and a peek at the coming ones, as well as some development images, such as those below:

There are many more if you click the link HERE.

There's also an explanation - and a preview - of a graphic novel in the making, to support the short films. Here's an example:

Are you being drawn in? This world is so beautiful. I want more!

I'd love to work with these filmmakers. Their vision seems very solid and complete, while at the same time poetic and allowing a lot of room for people to find their own stories within.

I'm so impressed.

I dearly hope the rest of the films are as beautiful and that there will be a DVD available at some point.

In the meantime, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for Salvage.

Interview with Editor of New Fairy Tales Magazine, Claire Massey

Today I'm pleased to present an interview with Claire Massey, Editor of the wonderful UK based New Fairy Tales magazine (available online). I mentioned her wonderful blog in an earlier post today HERE and discussed the magazine a while back HERE.

Let's get right to the questions - Claire has lots of interesting things to say about new fairy tales versus old!

FAIRY TALE NEWS HOUND: Hi Claire! Thank you for agreeing to answer a few questions for Once Upon A Blog. Your magazine focuses on new and original fairy tales as opposed to retellings. Can you explain how 'new fairy tales' are different from writing a piece of fantasy?

CLAIRE: For me, part of it is the form, like the traditional tales a new fairy tale is usually written in short story format (although of course there are fairy tale novels and I think it's in those in particular that the lines can become quite blurred between fairy tale and fantasy) and like a traditional tale events usually follow a certain pattern - for example things happening in threes. A new fairy tale will also draw upon the wealth of motifs that we have inherited from both the oral and literary traditions; new fairy tales can’t exist in isolation, they are created in conversation with the tales that have come before.

When writing fantasy you are free to create any kind of world you’d like for your story but following the traditions of the form new fairy tales usually take place in our world (even if it is a ‘once upon a time’ version of it), or in faerie, or at a meeting point between the two. Also, in fantasy that's based in our world characters may express surprise at the fantastical events they become embroiled in but in a fairy tale nobody ever questions the fantastical, anything can happen and nobody bats an eyelid.

FTNH: You obviously love fairy tales of all kinds. What was the inspiration for the magazine/how did its initial creation come about? Why did you decide to focus on original/new fairy tale only?

CLAIRE: I'd been re-reading Andersen's tales and I was inspired to have a go at writing fairy tales. At the time I didn’t really think about the divide between original tales and retellings, as I got more drawn in to the genre I re-read the Grimms, Oscar Wilde and George MacDonald - again not differentiating, I just loved the stories. It was only as I started to do more research and reading that I began to appreciate that there are two distinct types of literary tale. Although I love both I was particularly intrigued by the new tales and a lot of the online and print magazines that existed seemed to focus mainly on retellings so I decided to create an online space for new tales. The name New Fairy Tales seemed like a good choice and I later discovered that this is the same name Andersen used for several of his collections, Nye Eventyr in the Danish.

The Owl Encounter
by Karen Wendy Hurd
(Her work will be featured in the next issue of New Fairy Tales)

FTNH: How is writing a 'new' fairy tale different from writing a retelling? (apart from the lack of story template)

CLAIRE: Apart from the lack of story template I think there's actually a lot of common ground between the two. Whether you're writing a new fairy tale or a retelling you have to start from a love of the old stories, you have to be immersed in the form and motifs and you have to have the desire to create something new; for a retelling this will be a new version- your version of a tale, for a new fairy tale it will come from a different starting point but it will still be influenced by all the other tales you've read.

I suppose one of the main differences I've seen, in terms of what's submitted to the magazine and the retellings I read elsewhere, is that a lot of writers base new fairy tales in the realm of 'once upon a time', whereas writers of retellings often seem to feel freer to use contemporary, or strikingly different settings; they know a reader will recognise the characters and the plot, which they can then follow or subvert, and the story will still be read as a fairy tale. I think new fairy tale writers feel they have to try harder to make something feel like a fairy tale for it to be classed as such and so I get sent a lot of tales which carefully emulate the old tales. I do enjoy these but I would also like to see more new fairy tales in contemporary settings and/or addressing current issues; in the way Andersen used the form to address aspects of 19^th Century society; and Kurt Schwitters, the Weimar and Nazi periods in Germany.

FTNH: Hans Christian Andersen is often considered the father of the literary (or original) fairy tale. Who are some of your favorite original FT writers (historical and/or contemporary)?

The Butterfly Woods
by Karen Wendy Hurd
(Her work will be featured in the next issue of New Fairy Tales)

CLAIRE: Along with Andersen, Wilde and MacDonald I love to read A.S. Byatt – her ‘The Story of the Eldest Princess’ from The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye is one of my all time favourites. I’m also a big fan of the work of our (the UK’s) current poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy. Her fairy tale books are marketed as being for children but true to the form they contain some deliciously dark elements and should be equally savoured by adults. I’ve also recently read and enjoyed Jane Yolen’s Tales of Wonder and I’ve got a long list of other books by her I want to read!

FTNH: Regarding 'old' fairy tales (not just the European classic canon but ones from all over the world throughout the ages) - which ones are your favorites and why?

CLAIRE: It’s always so hard to choose, but two of my favourites were collected in England; the first is ‘Mossycoat’, a gypsy tale that contains similarities to ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Catskin’. It was collected in 1915 from a town in Lancashire called Oswaldtwistle, which is near where I grew up. The tale’s written in dialect and it’s got a brilliant energy to it. A girl’s mother spins her a wishing coat from moss and golden thread and she uses it to get to a big house where she goes to work as a servant and keeps getting whacked on the head with a skimmer. I quite like the fact that Mossycoat isn’t a perfect heroine; on her mother’s advice she takes advantage of a hawker’s affections in order to get fine clothes and shoes. The text isn’t available online but it is contained in The Virago Book of Fairy Tales, edited by Angela Carter (Ed. FTNH: This book is titled the 'The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book' in the US).

I also love ‘The Buried Moon’, which can be found in Joseph Jacobs’ More English Fairy Tales, it’s slightly mythic and it’s packed with beautiful and eerie images - like the moon being buried in the dirt by bogles and other creeping evil things - it’s a great atmospheric read.

In terms of my reading to this point I do feel I have been guilty of concentrating on European tales - I think part of it is feeling overwhelmed - there are so many tales out there to read, where do you start? For me the answer has been to start with the tales that I grew up with and then to work my way outwards, it might be impossible to read them all but I'm hoping to make a good sized dent!

Thank you so much for chatting with the Fairy Tale News Hound today. We 're looking forward to the next issue!

Writing an original fairy tale is a fun challenge. If you're interested in submitting to New Fairy Tales, please check the submission guidelines HERE. Submissions to New Fairy Tales are open to everyone, though you should be aware the standard is high and inclusion is not guaranteed. The deadline for the Winter issue is looming : OCTOBER 20TH!

Please note: New Fairy Tales is a supporter of Derian House Children's Hospice a center for the care and support of children with life threatening diseases and terminal illnesses and encourage you to show your support for the magazine by sending donations to them. You can read more about the hospice HERE.

Introducing The Fairy Tale Cupboard

I'd like to draw your attention to a fairly new blog I've linked to called "The Fairy Tale Cupboard". It's run by Claire Massey, the Editor of New Fairy Tales magazine, and is a wonderful treat to read.

(The Fairy Tale News Hound interviewed Claire recently. Watch for it - the post should be up some time today. Very interesting discussion on new fairy tales versus old!)

My favorite feature would have to be the Profiles of Famous Fairy Tale Figures. If you like Sarah Beth Durst's obscure fairy tale commentaries, you'll love these profiles. They're entertaining and educational and a wonderful summary and resource for study.

So far Red (of Riding Hood fame) and Jack (the Beanstalk Jack) have been profiled and we've had information on their names, ages, relationship status, story variations, online appearances and more.Who Has Come To Sing Us Carols?
by Cate Simmons (a.k.a. Steeringfornorth on Flckr)
This is just one of the amazing fairy tale artists Claire Massey has 'discovered' for us.

Here's an excerpt from Jack's rap sheet:

Age: Not as sprightly as he looks; there's no dating the oral story but the first recorded mention of him is in a burlesque version of the tale in an early eighteenth century chapbook...

And from Red's:

Relationship status: Two unlikely love interests, the first is the wolf, as seen in "Little Red-Cap"...

And there are little surprises too, like the recipe for a cake especially for Red's Granny (it has rum in it).

Gathering Together in Silence...
by Cate Simmons (a.k.a. Steeringfornorth on Flckr)

Other regular features include:

Fairy Tales and... : a series of subjects and their relation to fairy tales. Posted so far: Fairy Tales and Shadows, Fairy Tales and Beds. I love this feature too. Fabulous articles!
FoFTs (friends of fairy tales): info about wonderful people who work tirelessly to share and promote fairy tales. These are people we should all be aware of, being fairy tale enthusiasts.
Events/Exhibitions: info and reviews (Especially good for UK readers! Watch for ones in your area.)
Fairy Tale Treats: art, books and other lovely fairy tale related things. Claire has a real knack for finding gorgeous art/illustrations and objects. This is evident in the magazine too.

You can find The Fairy Tale Cupboard HERE.

So there's plenty of fairy tale related work coming from this talented woman, even between issues of New Fairy Tales online magazine.

Speaking of NFT, Claire is hard at working collecting and editing stories and commissioning gorgeous artwork for the next issue. If you'd like to contribute either writing or art, please contact Claire at editor AT newfairytales.co.uk and make sure to read the submissions information HERE too.

Star

by Faye Durston
Her work is featured in the first issue of New Fairy Tales.

Giants Cast Their Steampunk Fairy Tale Magic in Berlin

Ready for a larger-than-life steampunk fairy tale?

Today the giants (and their handlers) that have walked the streets (and rivers) of Berlin for 4 days are taking a well deserved rest after a happy reunion that mirrors the story of the city itself.

It's been almost 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell and this year, as part of the 19th annual unification celebration, the giant marionettes of French contemporary street arts/theater company Royal de Luxe staged a special performance, the story of which took place over 4 days.

The presentation was called "The Giants Arrive - A Fairy Tale for Berlin" and will no doubt remain in the memory of everyone fortunate enough to see them (estimated to be around 1 million lucky people) for the rest of their lives. The larger giant marionette, stands around 31 feet tall and weighs in at 2.5 tons - seeing it in person is not something you're likely to forget!First seen in 1993, the company has continued adding 'chapters' to their giant story over the years, including such wonders as a giant Sultan's Elephant (very steampunk in style and pictured below) that sprayed water over the watching crowds. The technical feats required for building, moving, manipulating and most of all, telling an emotional story with these puppets is awe inspiring. These are the largest fully-functional, traveling puppets in the world.Here's a wonderful video from an older show which captures a little of how incredible these street performances are:


From Spiegel Online International reporting the day before Royal de Luxe began their show in Berlin:

The company is bringing two puppets to Berlin. One is 9.5 meters (31 feet) tall and weighs 2.5 tons. It is a deep-sea diver and will be wearing an atmospheric diving suit made out of truck tarpaulins as it makes its way through the city and its waterways, aided by 31 helpers decked out in red livery. The helpers are called the "Lilliputians," after the little people in Swift's book. The smaller puppet -- at 5.5 meters (18 feet) and 800 kilograms (1,750 pounds) -- won't just be walking around; it will also be driving a scooter and a boat with the help of 22 Lilliputians.

Regarding the fairy tale of the title, here's what the creative head of Royal de Luxe, Jean-Luc Courcoult, said about the actual story (again from Spiegel Online International):

"It's a family story; it won't be political," Courcoult said... He went on to explain, his company will be telling a fairy tale about a long separation with the following plot: Terrible events have torn a city in two and caused one part of the city to be walled in. The big puppet is stuck in the west of the city, and the smaller one in the east. The big puppet drags a dormant geyser along the riverbed and places it under a wall. Then it wakes up the geyser to let it break down the city's barrier and allow the puppets to reunite.

You can read the rest of the article, which also details some of the amazing technical specifications as well as a lovely photo gallery of the event, HERE.

I found more details on the backstory of the tale HERE (reported by R.J. Evans for Socyberty - a website that publishes articles exploring social issues and how society changes/has changed - in June this year). I've put together the essential points in a collection of quotes below but there's a lot more information and detail in the article - I recommend clicking over to read it. The story is basically about a giant deep-sea diver who has been searching the world-over for his missing giantesse niece:

In 1912 the Titanic went down to the bottom of the ocean. Unknown to us, however, was that in its hold a giantess was held captive, the mother of the Little Giantess.

The enormous diver is the scouring the earth for the Little Giantesse. She was captured in Iceland which was at the time the home of the giants, each having his or her own particular task. The Little Giantess was to wake up the geysers of Iceland when a message needed to be sent. You may wonder what on earth geysers and messages have in common but little known to the outside world the geysers were used to transmit signals between the giants, much like the smoke signals of American natives.

But where does the deep-sea diver properly come in to the story? He is the brother of the giantess who drowned on the Titanic. Originally he had been busy doing his own job – sawing up icebergs – to realize that his sister and her daughter were missing.

In his past he has travelled the seabed for years and eventually he found the wreck of the Titanic. He buried his sister near the sunken ship. While there he discovered a mysterious box full of mail from the Titanic. He now had two new goals in life – the task of finding his niece and to deliver the mail. Since then he has wandered the earth in search of the Little Giantess.

And, as you may infer from the photos, all obstacles are conquered and the happy reunion occurred, fittingly, in Berlin near where the Wall once stood.Royal de Luxe apparently has no website and does no ordinary PR (the city of London put together a beautiful web presentation - including an extensive gallery - for the famed 2006 appearance which included the Sultan's Elephant. You can see that HERE ) but this website HERE has a long, fantastically detailed, yet easy-to-navigate article on the company.

The fact that Royal de Luxe make these extraordinary characters out of discarded items and what is essentially junk, is part of the magic - transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Fairy tales do the same thing by putting just a little magic into a tale, creating Märchen or 'Wonder Tales'. It is very fitting that these puppets have become part of the world and story of fairy tales. I sincerely hope I one day have the opportunity to experience one of the 'chapters' of these giant stories in person.

Fairy Tale Fights - The Academic Version

The Story of the Three Bears by H.J. Ford from the Green Fairy Book

(Many thanks to Heidi from SurLaLune for finding the artist! I knew that style looked familiar... :D )

Less than a week ago Once Upon A Blog published notice of an anthropological study, said to prove the ancient origin of fairy tales. (You can read that post HERE).

It would seem Dr. Tehrani's announcement and his talk at the British Science Fair last week have stirred up an old, yet apparently still hot, debate in the academic ring of fairy tale studies.

In one corner we have the oral traditionalists; in the other: the literary-origin camp.

Heavy weights from both camps have already weighed in and traded some verbal fisticuffs.

Representing the literary-origin advocates we have the highly respected Ruth Bottigheimer:
(Quotes from The Star)

"Tehrani has bought into the newest wave of biology-based understanding of literature, taking evolutionary genetics as his model. But his views are based on slippery assumptions that can't be verified and that have no legs in the real world.

Of course, all narratives have ancient origins: Aesops's fables date back to the sixth century B.C. But "modern revisionists distinguish between different kinds of traditional tales" – folk stories differ from fairy tales – "and understand that they have histories of different lengths."

Elements of a narrative told here and there over time do not a "fairy tale" make."

! (exclamation punch, er, point added by the Fairy Tale News Hound)

Dark Fairytale - Battle by Ken Wong

Keeping his cool with a smooth 'bob-and-weave' response, we have Donald Haase (also highly respected):

"Yes, there is debate in the field over dating. Fairy tales are in the thick of the culture wars."

The editor of Marvels & Tales, a twice-yearly journal of fairy tale studies, says Tehrani is right to conclude that a form of Red Riding Hood exists in many varied cultures. What's news, however, is that the story may date back further than 2,600 years: "It's intriguing, it's plausible, but tracing the ancestry of fairy tales can be very difficult. I want to see his evidence."

Arguably the most well known and respected fairy tale authority, Jack Zipes, also firmly (and famously) in the oral-traditionalists corner, doesn't hesitate to respond, or to pull his punch:

"All our storytelling originated thousands of years ago, centuries before the print editions of fairy tales," he says. "Anyone who says they arrive only with print is just stupid. People have similar experiences around the world and always have had."

Ouch.

But this is just the warm up. They're all waiting eagerly for the paper to be published before winding up for the knock-out.

If you're interested in getting up to speed you can read the original news post HERE (which links to the original Telegraph UK article) and the one I'm quoting today HERE.

I'm planning on getting a ringside seat for the next round if I can. In the meantime, this is just begging for an editorial cartoon.

Custom Fairy Tales

Once upon a time in the desert city of Yuma, Ariz., one young woman found a way to turn her passion into a business - and now she's on her way to a happy ending.

So begins an article at the YumaSun.com about local woman Tricia Romant who is creating custom fairy tales for people. These aren't like the 'insert-your-name-here' tales and books we've seen in the past either. Tricia gathers information about the people she's writing the tales for and from there she writes a new and unique story.

From her website:

Creative Tales was created in order to serve a need. We take your stories and memories and create a fairy tale based on your life. It is our goal to give our consumers a gift that they can pass down in their family that will live on long beyond their time.

You can read the rest of the Yuma Sun article HERE, which also has a lot of information about her process and options or you can see how to order your own custom fairy tale and/or read some of the ones she's already created HERE.

New Fairy Tales - Online Magazine

There's a very special online magazine I'd like to bring to your attention:

New Fairy Tales is an online magazine dedicated to publishing new fairy tales that are suitable for all ages. We are passionate about fairy tales, about good writing and beautiful illustrations and about raising money for an important cause.

This magazine specializes in, not retellings of fairy tales but newly written fairy tales. Based in the UK the magazine nevertheless has contributors from all over the world. I highly recommend you take a look at the lovely presentation (and variety) of art and read the quality stories in each issue so far. You will not be disappointed!

From their first issue:

We don't believe the fairy tale canon is complete or that we should only retell old stories. We believe there are many new tales out there waiting to be written and read and loved.

...we aim to provide a home for original fairy tales and fairy tale art on the web.

From the 1st issue

Following the oral fairy tale tradition, this magazine also has an excellently produced AUDIO component to their offerings in which the original tales are read for your listening enjoyment.

While this magazine has a high standard of excellence for any writing and art to be included in the issues, submissions are open to anyone and Claire Massey encourages anyone interested to try. Submissions for the current issue close on October 20th (details are HERE).

From the 1st issue

Regarding accepted works please note the magazine is run on a voluntary basis and unfortunately can't pay contributors but they do ask readers and listeners to consider making a donation to support Derian House Children's Hospice*, "as a way of valuing the work of the writers and illustrators whose work we feature and of helping to raising money for a good cause."

This is a truly unique magazine and one I'm so excited to see available. Even better, their issues will now be available twice a year, which means more stories and art for us and more opportunities for fairy tale artists and writers to have their work published in a noteworthy collection.

NOTE from the website regarding the charity they support: We support Derian House Children's Hospice, which is based in North West England.They provide specialist care and support for children with a terminal or life threatening illness. There is suprisingly little help from central government for a children’s hospice such as Derian House. With less than 10% of their funding coming from official sources, the reality is that they are open 52 weeks a year and receive statutory funding for just nine of those.