Addy’s Odyssey | 2016
A short film chronicling the existential adventures of Addy and Kale; depressed hand puppet and philosophical surfer dude.
Client: personal project
Audience: film festivals
Role: creative development and puppetry
Riding the Wave
We didn’t have much of a plan at first. Me, my two brothers and my sister, Hannah, were on a road trip up the California Coast. I had made this puppet for another project and Kenneth suggested I bring it. “We’ll film some stuff,” he said. So we did.
“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
– Kahlil Gibran
Strange bedfellows of inspiration
At the time, I was listening to a lot of poetry podcasts and also making a puppet for my niece who was really into Sesame Street. I was also taking an improv class. This combination seemingly unrelated experiences led to this idea about a sad, existentialist puppet. I found myself imagining the poems I was reading being read by a muppet and that made me giggle. I would just improvise with the puppet I was making and this character started to evolve — Addy.
All brothers on deck
My brother Kenneth and I wrote a script around the character and some of the footage we had from the road trip. But we didn’t have enough footage to form the story we wanted, so a couple months later I flew back to LA and we shot the rest at the beautiful Leo Carrillo State Park. Meanwhile, our other brother Connor was starting to write the score for the film.
Awards and Accolades
Addy’s Odyssey premiered at the 2017 Marfa Film Festival and was also screened at the San Diego International Kids’ Film Festival.