One of this year’s Oscars Animated Short Film finalists is Mum Is Pouring Rain, from director Hugo De Faucompret. It’s a hand-drawn short about a girl named Jane who tries to find happiness and hope during the holidays as her mum is struggling with depression. De Faucompret discusses all aspects of his wholesome short in this Animation Scoop Q&A:

Jackson Murphy: I love Jane as a lead character. She’s a very cool lead character and has a lot of layers to her. Tell me about creating her and making her interesting.

Hugo De Faucompret: The character of Jane is the main character… but not the one who talks the most. She’s there the most on the screen. The character is inspired by my niece, Siam. I asked [her] to do the voice. Even the design is kind of inspired by how she looks — with nice big ears and long, straight hair. I like the way [Jane] responds to her parents. At the same time she can be really tough and really sweet. I also needed a really strong [character] because it’s quite a tough situation she’s going through with her mum going through her depression phase.

JM: I like how she interacts [with everyone]. There’s a line she says to her mother early on, “You used to cook so well.” And I thought, “That feels like a very authentic line.” What kind of research did you do into child and parents relationships?

HDF: I didn’t want it to mean, “You are a Mom, so you have to cook.” It’s more like, “She used to cook very well.” So that’s something also really important about the character. I’m drawing [from] here and there and trying to make it work. And I’m not alone on the writing part. Lison [d’Andrea] also brought a lot of ideas. We mixed it up. When she was giving an idea, I could say, “This works or this doesn’t work.” And the opposite when I was bringing something, she would say, “It can’t work or not realistic enough.” It’s like a ping pong of ideas.

JM: That’s a good collaboration to have. I really like that this film is set during the holidays. Why was that important to you?

HDF: There are lots of series on TV for kids happening in schools or in schooltime. It’s really important to talk about the other part. Our lives are not just school or work. We learn as much outside than inside.

Hugo de Faucompret

JM: That’s really smart thinking. And I love the nature aspect to this short, with the concert in the forest and listening to nature. How has that been an impact to you throughout your life?

HDF: From age 8 to 15, I lived in the deep countryside. There were two or three houses around. It was mainly the woods and the fields. And I used to go there with my little brother (he’s five years younger) and that was my responsibility to our parents: “You have to take care of your little brother.” So I was taking him by hand and going into the forest. This is the first inspiration. And also it’s cool to take time. I don’t take as much time as I would like to. I think it’s important to focus on simple things and things around that already exist.

JM: Yeah. I completely agree. You mentioned Jane’s mother going through her depression. That’s a very serious theme, and you handle it very well. How did you want to balance the serious themes with the lighter ones?

HDF: It’s one of the main things we worked on. We were working on the line [or tightrope], on the subject of depression. If you fall down on the left, it will be too sad and too dark. And if you go on the right, it would be too… it wouldn’t be something serious. So we had to work on this line: we have to have fun watching this movie, but we didn’t want to say, “Depression is nothing. It doesn’t matter.” Because it does matter. It’s a disease. So that was the line we tried to stay on.

JM: Balancing yourself. I like the moment with the pies for Christmastime. What food did you have over the holidays?

HDF: (laughs) I think we had a few onion pies because after the movie we made a lot of them. For each event, we tried to do some by hand. Basically that. (laughs)

JM: I also really like… a sequence where Cloclo *kind of* flies with Jane as they try to get to a specific location. That moment is really cool and is kind of a magical moment, almost — the way you interpret that. How intentional was that — to that sequence sort of magical?

HDF: If you look at the shots in the sequence, you never see Cloclo flying. You never see the whole character in the air. It’s always just a foot or just the top of his body. This is really important because it can be something through Jane’s eyes. She imagines him really fast and being able to do everything. That’s also a rope we were working on. We could have made it really magical, but we wanted to keep it just if it would be through the eyes of a kid: the unknown; something you imagine stronger, bigger and more magical.

JM: It is very unique. And just before that, we see Jane escape from where she is with her grandmother. How do you find that animation is an escape?

HDF: It’s already a filter from reality. When you film with a camera, it’s also a filter, but you recognize everything. In animation, you start from scratch. You have to choose every little detail you put on the image. This helps a lot to talk about this kind of subject for kids and families.

JM: Do you think that you could potentially do more with these characters?

HDF: Yeah. In fact, this is an idea that came before I finished this one. We talked about that with the producers. I think we would like to say a few more things with them. So I’m on it! I’m writing things and doing a few sketches.

JM: Good! I’m looking forward to seeing more. Before I let you go, Congratulations on being on the Oscar shortlist. How does it feel to be one of the 15 finalists, and how would you feel about an Academy Award nomination for this?

HDF: It’s totally unexpected. We do the movies for the audience, and this is a huge bonus. We are really happy about it. It gives us some more work on the movie to make it more visible. It’s a new job, in fact, for us. But we are really happy about it, and we will try to do the best we can with what we have in hand. Let’s cross our fingers!

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Jackson Murphy

Jackson Murphy is a movie critic and entertainment columnist. He is the creator of the website Lights-Camera-Jackson.com, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

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