Laura (she/her) is an enthusiastic Director and leader who has been an active part of the Vancouver animation community for over 20 years. Having spent time in multiple areas of animation production, Laura has a unique ability as a Director to create genuine connections with artists, to clearly and effectively communicate her vision, and to create an environment that facilitates and encourages bold ideas and clever solutions.
Coming of age with some distinct differences from her peers, having a brother with down syndrome and navigating undiagnosed ADHD, Laura found comfort and a sense of belonging in Animation. It all started around the age of 5 when she would arrive home from Kindergarten and settle in to watch a couple of Merrie Melodies, a meditation routine of sorts that she employs to this day. From there, her love of Animation grew. Knowing no bounds of genre or style but always drifting towards stories about misfits, oddballs, and anything to do with the darkly funny, unusual and strange.
That love of misfits and the unusual only continued to grow as Laura got older. As a young adult, she sought out new filmmakers and animators to follow. Her first time at “Spike & Mike’s Festival of Animation” yielded a bounty of new work to explore. Notable favorites were Don Hertzfeldt and Bill Plympton. These influences have stuck with her and continue to be sources of inspiration alongside other animation greats such as Chuck Jones, Genndy Tartakovsky, Hayao Miyazaki, and Robert Valley.
Laura strives to tell stories that explore themes of perseverance, journeys, subverting the norm, and humanity. Her connection to these themes is rooted in her own personal experiences and relationships and bolstered by her love of adventure, mystery, science fiction, and fantasy stories that use their genre as a stylistic tool to tell stories about real, messy, and complex beings.
Laura is currently having a lovely time working with the fantastically talented crew at Animal Logic Vancouver as Co-Director on the animated feature, Toto.