Jamaican makes animated waves

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

Pan chicken men in Portmore have given animator Sam Stewart the platform to launch his future in film.

Stewart is the director, producer, writer, editor and cinematographer of the animated comedic short Jerk Chicken.

The animator is making some headway in the field of animation internationally, with the seven-minute animated tale of 'Ron Cutter' and 'Jeremiah Chicken', telling the story of a chicken which tries to escape becoming the latest meal on a jerk pan.

The animation vividly captures all the emotion of the characters without using a single word. The film is the first animated short from Stewart's BYG Animation Studios and was recently shown at the 15th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival in New York.

The festival took place from September 14-18 and is the largest internationally competitive festival of its kind staged by HBO and BET.

Good experience

The four-day festival includes features, documentaries, short films, as well as panel discussions and live staged screenplay readings.

Over the last 14 years, Hollywood studios and talent-driven independent films have consistently chosen Urbanworld to premiere box office and award-winning hits. Urbanworld has also become home to some of today's top brands which wish to reach key influencers, media and entertainment leaders across the multicultural landscape.

For the young animator, being shown at such a prestigious festival was without a doubt, an honour.

"It was a good experience, the response from the viewers was great. Jerk Chicken was the only animated piece shown and nothing like that was shown before, so it definitely stood out," said Stewart.

Stewart fell in love with art very early.

Though he grew up in St Catherine, Stewart made the trek to the Wolmer's Boys' School and then the even longer one to Temple University in Philadelphia.

"From as far back as I can remember, I have loved drawing. I used to draw on the walls of my house until my mom bought me a drawing book. When I went to Wolmer's, the Art institute of Fort Lauderdale conducted a presentation and showed a demo reel with cartoons. It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen," he explained.

He soon realised, however, that he would not be able to achieve his animation dreams in Jamaica and left for Philadelphia.

Last year, he established BYG Animation Studios where he works relentlessly to become an international film maker. BYG, he says, is looking to create a "brighter, younger generation" of computer-generated animation throughout the Caribbean and the world.

Wanting to showcase his culture, Stewart devised Jerk Chicken from his memories of pan chicken men working in Portmore.

"I wanted to do something about home, about my community and that just came to mind. I wanted to put a twist on jerking chicken and the animation was developed," he said.

That out of the way, the Philadelphia resident is already working on his next project.

"I have a project coming up, a big animation project. It's basically a cartoon series based on the Jerk Chicken short but I can't say where it will be shown as yet."

In the future, Stewart hopes to see himself competing with the likes of studios such as Dreamworks and Pixar.