Film Screening and Talk: Cadaver with Tavi Gevinson and Jonah Ansell

Film Screening and Talk: Cadaver with Tavi Gevinson and Jonah Ansell

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Longtime family friends and Oak Park natives Tavi Gevinson and Jonah Ansell discuss their work on Cadaver and the transformation of the story from short film to graphic novel. Heidi Reitmaier, Beatrice C. Mayer Director of Education, moderates the screening and conversation. The Cadaver graphic novel is sold by the MCA Store at the event and a book signing follows the program.

Cadaver is an award-winning animated short film (long-listed for a 2013 Academy Award) and a graphic novel for adults (Academy Chicago Publishers, 2013). The bittersweet love story features Back to the Future’s Christopher Lloyd, Rookie magazine’s Tavi Gevinson, and Academy Award winner Kathy Bates. It tells the tale of a cadaver who wakes up to say a last goodbye to his wife but discovers a truth in death he didn’t know in life. Inspired by the wit of Shel Silverstein and the wisdom of William Shakespeare, it is a twenty-first-century love sonnet that seeks to awaken the hopeful romantic within even the harshest cynic.

Tavi Gevinson is the voice of Lynn, the protagonist in Cadaver. A writer, editor, actress, and singer, Tavi is the founder and editor-in-chief of Rookie magazine. Tavi started her personal blog, Style Rookie, in 2008, when she was 11 years old, and writes with a humble but keen authority on such serious topics as body image, self-esteem, and first encounters with street harassment. To date, Tavi has written for multiple publications, has been profiled in the New York Times and the New Yorker, and has presented at venues such as IdeaCity, TEDxTeen, L2 Forum, and the Economist World in 2012 Festival. Last year Lady Gaga called her “the future of journalism.” She is the youngest guest to ever be featured on The Colbert Report and was recently named to Forbes 30 under 30 for Media.

Jonah Ansell is writer and director of the animated film Cadaver, starring Tavi Gevinson, Christopher Lloyd, and Academy Award winner Kathy Bates. He currently serves as CEO and Chief Storyteller at JAMS, a LA-based production company where he develops stories for film and TV. He wrote and produced the award-winning film First Bass, shot on-site at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, and is currently directing an anti-gun animated film that will be released in early 2014. He and his creative work have been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Vogue, Elle, and Entrepreneur and on MTV and HBO, among others.

More about this event here.