A Question of Taste: Oscar-nominated animator Nora Twomey

By Des O’Driscoll

Nora Twomey is from Midleton, and is an Oscar-nominated animator with Irish production house Cartoon Saloon.

She is also an ambassador for Culture Night (tomorrow) in Cork county.

Twomey will be in Clongibbon House, New Square, in Mitchelstown to introduce a screening of 25 FRAMES, a documentary made by young people.

Best recent book you’ve read:

I’ve been reading Leo’s War, by Irish children’s author Patricia Murphy, to my kids at night. It’s about Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty and his work saving the lives of so many Jewish people and allied forces during WWII.

The book is written from a child’s perspective and the story is really touching. I’m not the slightest bit religious and firmly believe that the Church has no business in our State institutions but I do believe in human kindness and this man was a true hero. In an age of made-up superheroes, reading about the real deal is refreshing.

Best recent film you’ve seen:

The last film that really stayed with me is a film called Boys in Trees by Nicholas Verso, which is in the horror genre but explores the pressures put on young people as they come of age and how friendships are strained as self-awareness overwhelms. It’s such an intelligent, compassionate look at what is becoming harder to navigate as society evolves.

Best recent show/exhibition:

In the National Design and Craft Gallery in Kilkenny, there is an incredible exhibition called .OBJ which focuses on using digital technology to re-imagine traditional crafts.

There are ‘melting’ carpet patterns, PomPoms, that follow your every movement — mind boggling stuff. Sometimes design exhibitions can be elitist but this exhibition is something people of all ages can enjoy.

Best piece of music you’ve been listening to lately (new or old):

I fall in and out of love with pieces of music regularly but one that stays with me is a rendition of ‘Dún Do Shúil’ by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. It’s only a minute long and is a really sparse fiddle interpretation of an Irish famine folksong but it is exquisite.

Caoimhín leaves room for silence, which in turn makes me appreciate the sounds all the more. I love seeing Irish artists taking traditional pieces new places, it keeps the music alive and evolves it like a living language.

First ever piece of music or film that really moved you:

When I was very young, I remember feeling a huge sense of loss when Dorothy left Oz at the end of The Wizard of Oz. I wanted to be in that strange place, in her basket with Toto, as she explored such weird landscapes.

I was very sad when the film ended but felt silly because it was just a film, so I couldn’t tell anyone why I was moping about the place. We had a black-and- white TV, so I had to take Dorothy’s word for it when she sang about a ‘Yellow Brick Road’.

Tell us about your TV viewing:

I tend to get my news from the radio on the way to and from work and at weekends so in the evenings I try to watch something good after the kids have gone to bed. I’m usually so tired I’ll fall asleep after 10 minutes unless the show is really gripping. The last thing that’s passed the 10-minute test is Ozark on Netflix.

Radio listening and/or podcasts:

I love The Mystery Train with John Kelly on LyricFM, especially if I’m on a long drive. His music choices are so well curated, all types of music but the tracks sit perfectly together. I don’t have the head-space to listen to a lot of podcasts but there is an Irish historian Fin Dwyer on irishhistorypodcast.ie whose enthusiasm for his subject brings history alive.

What are your favourite three animated films of all time?

My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki; it’s a beautiful exploration of the magic of childhood.

Anomolisa by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, a grown-up story about the nature of human consciousness. Animation is not just for kids.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed by Lotte Reiniger. This is the oldest surviving animated film. Lotte Reiniger’s paper cut-out technique and intricate attention to detail is as astounding today as it was in 1926 when she first created it.

Your best celebrity encounter:

I’m dreadfully awkward in those types of situations and celebrities are just people except for the fact that everybody is watching them. I wouldn’t know how to go about a headline- worthy celebrity encounter. It’s weird to witness how we all behave around fame. What are we looking for? What need does it fulfill?

I once walked up to Mary Robinson at a luggage belt in Dublin Airport to tell her what it meant to be a young woman in Ireland when she was our president. We’d moved from a country where women couldn’t get a bank loan without a male signatory to having a female president in the space of a few decades. It was suitably awkward but I’m glad I did it.

You can portal back to any period of human cultural history?

I’d love to have been in the Sistine Chapel in the 1600s when the ‘Miserere’ by Gregorio Allegri was performed. It is a choral piece and was believed to be so beautiful that it could only be sung in that chapel at certain times. Copying the musical manuscripts was forbidden and it was all very mysterious. Although now you can get it on YouTube.

Do you have any interesting ancestors or family?

All our ancestors are interesting; it’s a pity so many stories are lost to history, especially the female experience in this country.

Unsung hero:

I think carers don’t get the recognition they deserve. So many people are caring for members of their family, or working as carers professionally to keep people in their own homes for longer; they are saving the State a huge expense but don’t have a lot of support.

Also, the volunteering community in Ireland is working away under the radar, supporting State services often at the mercy of cutbacks and lack of foresight.

You are queen for a day — what’s your first decree?

Over the last few decades we’ve created a situation where it takes two incomes to support a family and put a roof over children’s heads.

We’re working harder than ever but we’ve lost a lot somehow; I’d fix that, without fear of being voted out of office while a long-term plan is implemented because queens are for life. Easier said than done, I’m sure.