Nora Twomey

Nora Twomey is the Director of The Breadwinner, a 2D animated film produced by Cartoon Saloon. In 2017, The Breadwinner won the prestigious 'Annie' award for best independent animated feature, making Nora the first solo female director to win the award.

I should say I worked for Cartoon Saloon (the animation Studio that Nora is one of the founders of) for almost a year, and during my time there I had very few interactions with Nora. This wasn't especially unusual as animators tend to be a shy and humble bunch, but Nora more than most has every reason to step into the spotlight. The story behind the making of The Breadwinner is as impressive as the film itself.

On top of the massive amount of work involved in this five-year production, Nora was diagnosed with breast cancer one year into the process. Although forced to run parts of the production from her hospital bed and while going through chemotherapy, with help from her team at Cartoon Saloon, they miraculously managed to keep the film on schedule.

The Breadwinner centres around the story of a young Afghan girl called Parvana, who is growing up in Kabul in 2001, who is forced to cut her hair and dress as a boy to feed her family when her father is imprisoned by the Taliban. The film is based on the award winning-book of the same name, written by Deborah Ellis.

The film features exquisite sequences created with a paper-craft effect, adorned with vibrant colours and designs, that act as a balance to the carefully observed realism in the film's minimalist style. The film takes an incredibly specific story that feels far away from the experiences of the Cork-born, Kilkenny-based Director, and deftly tells the story in a human, relatable and often humorous way, with such style and confidence that it feels as if telling this story any other way, in any other medium, wouldn't make sense. 

Breadwinner is a technical marvel, a brave step forward within the medium of animation, a visual spectacle and a fantastic story.

This is why Nora is and should be a highly respected figure in modern animation, and one of the many masters working in Cartoon Saloon.

You can catch Nora speaking at the Offset creative festival this March 23rd, 24th and 25th