It’s the ultimate origin story as director Adam H. Stewart brought Abe’s Story to life.

At the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Abe’s Story was selected as one of the short films to be showcased before the feature films.

The 12-minute animated short film tells the tale of Abe, an overworked Irish writer. He draws inspiration from his day job in the theater to write a bloody brilliant novel.

The animation draws from 2D silhouette characters in a moveable multi-dimensional background.

The voice cast includes Colin O’Donoghue as Abe, David Bamber as Henry, Owen Roe as Richard, and Jonathan Ryan as Arminius.

Adam Stewart and Garry Walsh wrote the story.

LRM Online sat down for a one-on-one discussion at the film festival with Stewart on the development of the story, animation efforts, Victorian shadow puppet theater, and the twist at the end of the film.

Stewart is an Irish filmmaker, who studied production design at the American Film Institute.

Abe’s Story premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2019, in which it won the “Best Sequence in an Animation Award.” It has been subtitled in Basque and Russian. Additionally, it played at a range of diverse festivals globally, including South Korea, Canada, Spain, London, Dublin, Italy, Malta, and Siberia.

In October, the short film was featured for a special screening at the Bram Stoker Festival at the Royal Chapel Dublin Castle. The following month, Abe’s Story won a Golden Knight at the 57^th Malta International Film Festival. It represented Ireland at the Torino Short Film Market, in which it won a Silver Shark at the Kinsale awards for excellence in sound design.

For more information on this short film, visit Adam Stewart’s site by clicking here.

Watch the exclusive interview below.

Related: SBIFF 2020: Laura Dern Cinema Vanguard Award and Red Carpet Interviews

Source: LRM Online Exclusive, Adam Stewart