animation
Chance Meetings
DIRECTOR Ann Verrall
ANIMATOR Sam Decoste
This feature-length documentary intersperses animated sequences throughout the live action. It tells the story of the creation of a kindergarten (1963-1983), where 50% of the organizers, teachers and children came from the black and white communities. The kindergarten was later used as a model for creating de-segregated schools in Harlem.
Release Date FALL 2023.
Window Wonderland AR exhibition
ANIMATOR Sam Decoste
MURALIST Elise Conlin
As part of the outdoor exhibition Window Wonderland (fall 2022) in Toronto, Elise and I collaborated on an animated augmented reality (AR) window mural located at the A&W on Dundas St W. The exhibition was organized by the Junction BIA in Toronto and featured 10 AR projects.
The Wild in the Seed
ANIMATOR Sam Decoste
ILLUSTRATION/SOUND DESIGN Annik Gaudet
Tucked away behind Shirreff Hall are a few 300 year-old trees, all that remain from the Acadian forest that stood on this site before development. A flurry of seeds, acorns and pine cones unlocks a doorway into this long lost forest, bringing attention to the diversity inherent in a healthy forest.
Created by Decoste and Gaudet (2021) for '50 Things', an app-guided, interactive art adventure in celebration of the Ecology Action Centre’s 50th anniversary. The province-wide project was curated with Zuppa Theatre Co.
Sincerely yours, Mrs Taylor
DIRECTOR/ANIMATOR Sam Decoste
Inspired by a letter to a national media outlet, Mrs Taylor tells her granddaughter of her experience during the Halifax Explosion.
This short film was commissioned by the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative (AFCOOP) and CBC/Radio Canada to commemorate the 100th year memorial of the Halifax Explosion. It won audience choice award at the Emerging Lens Cultural Film Festival in 2018.
Cahun & Moore: Unframed
DIRECTOR/ANIMATOR Sam Decoste
Cahun & Moore: Unframed is a 3-channel immersive animation installation that offers a brief glimpse into the activism of artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore by projecting animated sequences along three gallery walls.
1-channel version of my MFA thesis installation, NSCAD University, 2015.
Cahun: Framed
DIRECTOR/ANIMATOR Sam Decoste
An animated photograph of Claude Cahun (original photo Don't Kiss Me by Marcel Moore, 1927) created for the MFA group show: Progress in Work in Progress, 2014.
Mary & Myself
DIRECTOR/ANIMATOR Sam Decoste
This short animated documentary (NFB 2013) tells the story of two friends, Jia Tsu Thompson and Mary Mohammed, as they rehearse for their theatrical debut playing “comfort women” in Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues.
Mary & Myself premiered at HotDocs. It was nominated for Best Short Documentary at the Canadian Screen Awards, a Golden Sheaf Award at Yorkton Film Festival, and In Competition at the Tricky Women Documentary and Animation Festival in Austria. It was also available on Air Canada’s enRoute Entertainment.
