Crying & Wanking

An animated domestic drama about sex, shame and spending too much time indoors. A story of loss in which a woman, alone, chews over a recently ended relationship.

This contemporary urban tale is drawn directly into the computer with the tactile, loose quality of the drawn image expressed through a pixillated, digital line. The rich soundtrack includes haunting music by Alexis Bennett.

U.K., 2002, 6 mins, 16:9, Beta SP (PAL & NTSC)/DVD

To buy this film and three others on DVD for £12.50 (incl. UK P&P), please contact sales@alyshawkins.co.uk

Awards

• Winner: Synchro Film Award (€1500), Tricky Women, Vienna, Austria 2003
• Second Prize (€1500) Experimental/Videocreation, Unicaja Eurovideo, Malaga, Spain 2003

Reviews

‘Investigates emotional and sexual questions and content with natural self-awareness.’
– Verdict of the Jury, Tricky Women International Animation Festival

'Michaela Pavlatova Wrote Us About Her Experience Judging A Festival For Women Animators In Vienna, Austria And Why She Feels There Is A Need For Such Events

The festival was Tricky Women 2003, now in its 2nd year. I was a jury member with Sabine Groschup (Austria), Maya Yonesho (Japan), and Jayne Pilling (UK).

The Synchro Film and Video Award, worth Euro 1500, honors post-production work. It went to Alys Hawkins for Crying and Wanking. It is a roughly drawn animation, a strong film exploring emotional and sexual issues. She had another film in the competition, Hysteria, which is an ironic subject based on the belief of 19th Century doctors that woman's hysteria is caused by masturbation. They decided to cure it by prescribing additional masturbation! (Probably everyone knows that, but I did not.)
– From ASIFA San Francisco: http://www.awn.com/asifa-sf/2003/0403.html

Screenings

• Cinewomen, New York, U.S.A. February 2007
  Prophecy, Bargate Monument Gallery, Southampton, U.K. August-October 2006
  Pioneer Theater, New York, U.S.A. April 2006
  International Short Film Festival, Lille, France April 2005
  Animex International Festival of Animation, Middlesbrough, U.K. January 2005
  From the Crypt Short Film Showcase, Southampton, U.K. December 2004
  Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Uppsala, Sweden October 2004
  Open Studio, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria April 2004
  Women in the Director’s Chair Intermational Film Festival, Chicago, U.S.A. March 2004
  Wellywood Shorts, Nottingham, U.K. February 2003
  Santa Fe Film Festival, U.S.A December 2003
  Imageforum, Tokyo, Japan December 2003
  Unicaja Eurovideo, Malaga, Spain November 2003
  Kinofilm 2003, Manchester, U.K. October 2003
  MadCat Women’s Film Festival, San Francisco U.S.A September 2003
  Krok Animation Festival, Kiev-Sebastopol, Ukraine September 2003
  Circle Club Kino, Manchester, U.K. May 2003
  Images Festival, Toronto, Canada April 2003
  Taiwan International Animation Festival April 2003
  Tricky Women International Animation Festival, Vienna, Austria March 2003
  Anima 2003 (formerly Folioscope), Brussels, Belgium February 2003

A film by Alys Hawkins
All images copyright Alys Hawkins
hello@alyshawkins.co.uk