SCREENING SELECTION 2021
NOTHING TO SAY
Nominated for SDG Films - Goal 14: Life Below Water
Information
Year: 2019
Country: United States
Duration: 10'
Language: English
Director: Aubry Mintz
Producers: Aubry Mintz, Mark Jones, Billie Mintz, Kazra Padzuki
Writer: Aubry Mintz
Story: Aubry Mintz, Ellen Bessen
Voice Narration: Danny Aiello
Nothing to Say in an allegory in which a recent arrival at the zoo, a turtle, challenges the zookeeper and other animals by not speaking on command to receive his food. By revealing his story to the others, the turtle exposes themes of exile and being a refugee in a land that provides for the body at the cost of the soul. Various animation styles used in the film help to uncover the emotional quality of the turtle’s experience.
Aubry Mintz has worked as a feature animator at George Lucas’s world renown/award winning VFX house Industrial Light and Magic and also for Japanese front runner game/film studio Square USA. Mintz is an award winning freelance animation director for television and the Internet working on projects for clients such as Smirnoff, McDonalds, MuchMusic, General Mills and the Canadian rock band Rush.
He produced the animated pilot "Airship Dracula" for Rides TV with the Canadian rock group The Sadies and Juno winning animation director Michael Roberts, and Mintz directed a short animated film that is narrated by celebrity Danny Aiello and co-produced by the Oscar award winning Seneca Institute in Canada. Mintz is also co-author for the Focal Press book “Ideas for the Animated Short 2nd Edition” and is currently writing a book with co-author Ellen Besen called “Theory of Integrated Storytelling”. Mintz has presented his storytelling findings at film festivals to packed audiences throughout the US and Canada and frequently does presentations on integrated storytelling, most recently at Disney Feature Animation, CTNX, Blue Sky Animation Studios and DreamWorks Animation. He has also recently appeared as a guest host on TV's Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for a 4-hour program consulting on the animated short films from the National Film Board of Canada. Passionate about teaching, animating and telling stories, Mintz was Chair of the Animation program at Laguna College of Art and Design (2002-2007) and Head of Animation at CSULB (2008-2018) and is currently a Full Professor and Director of the School of Art at California State University Long Beach. Mintz is also on the board of Directors for the prestigious non-profit organization ASIFA-Hollywood which is the largest chapter of the international organization ASIFA.