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On the heels of its prize-winning run at the Annecy Festival this month, Michael Granberry’s black-and-white, stop-motion animated short film Les Bêtes has launched an exclusive online streaming engagement on Vimeo. The non-dialog film screened in the festival’s official shorts competition, went home with both the Jury Award and Vimeo Staff Pick Award.
Read on for Animation Magazine‘s Q&A with Granberry, who has previously worked as an animator and animation supervisor on projects such as Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Severance, Tumble Leaf, In the Know, Adventure Time and Robot Chicken, as well as directing shorts such as Demon Garden, From Beyond and the web series Zombies vs. Ninjas. An abridged version of this interview appeared in our Annecy short films sampler in the June ’25 issue.
Animation Magazine: Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration for Les Bêtes? When did you start working on the project and how long did it take to make?
Michael Granberry: Les Bêtes began in January 2020 when I realized I had dozens of very old stop-motion puppets in storage which had been built for projects that were abandoned and never filmed. These weird, unique characters were rapidly decomposing, but instead of throwing them away I decided to put them all in a movie together and see what would happen. Thus, Les Bêtes was born. I worked on the film throughout the pandemic and then sporadically over the next four years, completing it in March of 2024.
How many puppets/sets/how big were they? What were they made of?
There are approximately 246 unique puppets in Les Bêtes ranging in size from 2mm to 16 inches in height, made from foam, wire, latex, bakeable clays and other assorted materials. There were eight basic sets which were all made from recycled and repurposed materials and designed very much like theatre flats that could be reconfigured and moved quickly atop a 2’ x 4’ animation stage. A lot of forced perspective was used to make spaces appear bigger than they actually were.
What do you love about working in this medium?
Stop motion is a kind of alchemy through which ordinary materials can be transformed into mesmerizing visual storytelling, all through the physical efforts of an artist wrestling with their craft. It’s like watching a magic trick that, even though you know exactly how it’s done, still captivates you.
What was the most challenging aspect of the project?
The biggest challenge of Les Bêtes was simply keeping track of the multitudes of characters who were onscreen together at any given time. Because the puppets were in such poor condition, they broke constantly which meant many emergency puppet surgeries happening mid-shot. Besides the insane number of characters, scenes of raging fire and smoke and fields of flowers bursting into bloom — all done practically — kept the problem-solving level high.
Why did you decide to shoot the short in black and white?
Since the characters were all originally built for other projects, the color palette was all over the map and frankly, insane to look at. I put a black and white filter over some early camera tests and the result reminded me of a 1930s Ladislas Starevich animation, which inspired the idea that this film could perhaps be a kind of tribute to his work.
How did it feel to be back at Annecy with a nominated short that is completely different from your other shows?
Honestly, after years of working on larger studio projects, the thought of attending a legendary festival like Annecy with a zero-budget film born from little more than scrappy determination is quite humbling. However, it’s also kind of wonderful!
When did you know you wanted to work in animation?
I fell in love with stop motion after watching the effects work of Ray Harryhausen in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad when I was eight years old. Later my parents got me my first Super-8 camera and I started making short stop-motion films until CGI came along in the early 80s and stop-motion all but disappeared for 20 years. It wasn’t until the advent of stop-motion software in the early 2000s that I got back into it, as a 36-year old with no formal animation training.
Who are your biggest animation/artistic influences?
The work of Ray Harryhausen, first and foremost. Then such modern luminaries as Henry Selick, Phil Tippett, Will Vinton, Suzie Templeton, Max Winston, Robert Morgan and Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski of Clyde Henry Productions. Each of these artists’ work hit me at a crucial point when I was figuring out my own aesthetic and what I loved about this medium.
What would you like audiences to take away from Les Bêtes?
That kindness is always preferable to cruelty, and when we are confused about who “the beasts” are we should pause and examine how we are treating each other.
See more of Michael Granberry’s work and follow Les Bêtes‘ festival progress on Instagram. Watch the short below:
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