Family Snapshots: Michel Gondry on the Creative Journey of ‘Maya, Give Me a Title’ & Its Sequel

This article was written for the May-June ’25 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 350).

Those who have been following the interesting career of French writer-director Michel Gondry know that he easily switches between the worlds of music videos, live-action movies and animated ventures. Fortunately, the man best known for co-writing and directing the Oscar-winning movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), The Science of Sleep (2006) and award-winning music videos by Björk, Daft Punk and The White Stripes, is back on the animation trail this year. In June, he will bring two personal animated features — Maya, Give Me a Title and its sequel, Maya, Give Me Another Title — to the Annecy Festival. He is also the recipient of the festival’s honorary Cristal (alongside Joanna Quinn and Matt Groening).

We recently had the chance to catch up with the multitalented director recently to find out more about his animated double bill, for which he collaborated with his young daughter, Maya:

Animation Magazine: First of all, congrats on a very productive year and the upcoming Cristal award at Annecy. Can you tell us the origins of your first Maya movie?

Michel Gondry: I guess it all started when I bought a smartphone and it allowed you to do some basic animation. That’s when I started to play this game with my daughter, who was only 3 years old at the time. She’s 10 now! She would ask me to give her a title, and we would play this game where we would create this small story together. Each one would take from one to three weeks to complete.

Were these little animated projects also a great way for you to keep in touch with her as you were traveling?

It was a way to re-create our family from afar. Her mom would read the texts to her in the early years, but even later, when she learned to read, she would still ask her mother to read them to her, because she wanted to continue the experience in the same way. I was mostly in Los Angeles during the COVID lockdown, and she was in Paris and Brittany, and it helped me stay positive during that time. Most of the animation was done using paper cutouts. I found this cheap paper at the drugstore, and they had these perfect color nuances for skin tones because they were already a bit faded. I would do these big backgrounds with paper and drawings. I have a system where I put my camera, and I move the things little by little and I take a picture each time. We put them together using Premiere or whatever program we have. About two years ago, we decided to compile all the segments and create a movie. I think I will probably do more animated projects in the future.

And how did the sequel come about?

Once we saw how the first movie was received, we decided to go back and put another compilation together. The second part also features nine or 10 segments. It’s very similar to the first film, but some segments are a bit different. For example, when Maya was in third grade, I went to her classroom and asked all the students to create their own characters and pick their favorite backdrops. A lot of them picked a magic castle. It was really fun because the different personalities of all her classmates came through in that segment. It gave us a bit more freedom, and I think it has a more diverse selection.

What do you think of the new technologies that are now available for animation?

With new technologies, you have to keep learning. But for me, I use more primitive systems, so I don’t have to learn each time. My concentration and energies can go directly into the creativity. I can focus on the story ideas, the shapes of the character, the colors. When I have the idea and I storyboard it, I know exactly how I’m going to make it work. I like the way it feels to make animation using the technology that I’m familiar with.

What would you say is the best part of the animation experience for you?

Of course, I love the connection that we created with my daughter. People seem to respond to that. I love the fact that it all started from a very simple notion from Maya and then, I could create the most absurd and complicated ideas based on them. She was the main character in each story most of the time, but I tried to incorporate her mother and grandparents and myself too. I’m also kind of proud of the background art I created for the movie. We did one film with all of Maya’s classmates. She is not the type of person to brag about it, but she has been very sweet about it. She’s very focused. I don’t know if she will get into animation, but she’s very good with the camera. I will definitely try to use her in my movies again!

When did you fall in love with animation?

I was very young. I was very intrigued by the fact that when you look at many drawings in a very short time, you’ll stop seeing static images and your eyes will see motion. I thought it was magical, so I started to do flipbooks and would draw on the corner of the pages of my books. Later on, as I got older, I bought a camera and did more sophisticated projects, but I always tried to keep things simple. In terms of things that I used to watch, there was a great Italian-French show called Chapi-Chapo and a Polish show called The Adventures of Colargol. I liked the classic Disney movies, but I also liked Eastern European and Russian animation even more when I discovered them later on.

What is your take on the big animation scene in 2025?

Well, I remember the first film that was fully done in CGI, I think it was Toy Story by Pixar, and I was absolutely blown away not only by the technique (although it looks very primitive by today’s standards) but also by the complex lighting and the story. But today, when you go to see a movie, you see 10 trailers for CG-animated movies, and they all feel and look alike. Everything looks quite stagnant. Even if they want to do something like classic Disney movies from the 1970s, it’s going to still be generated by a computer. I think you need to do things without overthinking the aesthetics. With AI, you get to see the patterns and the limitations of the technology. I mean, if you look at Titanic, it was the first movie that really used a lot of CG images, but now it can look dated. I have used AI maybe a couples of times in the past, and you realize that it’s not capable of creation, because it just collects everything that exists before and mixes them. It feels like what lazy students do in the classroom, when they have to write an essay that should be 30 sentences long, and they only have 20 sentences, so they just fluff it up to reach the word count. It’s like using test screenings. They flatten the results and undercut the creativity.

Before we let you go, what is your go-to advice for young people who want to get into animation?

Learn to be patient. I often see animated projects that are really “jolty.” They don’t use enough images. Remember, you have to do 12 images per second and incorporate very small movements. Also, it’s important to finish your work. You don’t have to be too ambitious. Just make sure you complete your work and show it as a finished project!

Michel Gondry’s two Maya, Give Me a Title films will be screened at Annecy. Maya, Give Me Another Title will open in France on June 18.