JOAN C. GRATZ
Animation Director
The Second Coming
Format: HD & DCP
Running time: 2’ 20”
Year: 2017
Role: Director, producer, animator
An animated film based on William Butler Yeats’ poem.
Primal Flux
Format: HD & DCP
Running time:3’10”
Year: 2016
Role: Director, producer, animator
Primal Flux is high-relief clay animated directly before the camera.
It combines abstract and figurative images to explore the nature of conscious
and unconscious communication.
Night Weaver
Format: HD & DCP
Running time: 5:45
Year 2015
Role: Director, producer, animator
An animated tapestry of abstract images inspired by the decorative arts of
Islamic women.
Kahlil Gibran’s the Prophet (feature film)
Chapter on Work
Format: HD & DCP
Running time: 4 minutes
Year 2014
Role: Director & animator
Lost and Found
Format: HD & DCP
Running time: 3’35”
Year: 2012
Role: Director, producer, animator
Life’s passages are evoked in metamorphosing clay images.
Kubla Khan
Format: HD & DCP
Running time: 3’42”
Year: 2011
Role: Director, producer, animator
An animated painting based on Samulel Taylor Coleridges’ poem.
Puffer Girl
Format: HD & 35mm
Running time: 5 minutes
Year: 2009
Role: Director, producer, animator
The perplexing adventures of a puffer fish who pushes the boundaries of
her world.
Dowager’s Idyll
Format: 35mm
Running time: 5 minutes
Year: 2001
Role: Director, producer, animator
An animated kaleidoscope of abstract clay-painted images.
Innerplay
Format: digital beta
Running time: 11 minutes
Year: 2000
Role: Director, animator
An abstract animated film commissioned by the Portland Symphony
screened in a live concert performance.
Dowager’s Feast
Format: 35mm
Running time: 5 minutes
Year: 1996
Role: Director, Producer, animator
An exploration of the subconscious using abstract images.
Pro and Con
Format: 35mm
Running time: 8 minutes
Year: 1992
Role: Co-Producer, director, animator with Joanna Priestley
An animated documentary about life in prison from the point of view of a
Corrections officer and an inmate.
Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase
Format: 35mm
Running time: 7 minutes
Year: 1992
Role: Director, producer, animator
An animated history of 20th century painting .
Digging in the Dirt
Format: music video
Running time: 4 minutes
Year: 1992
Role: Animator, designer clay sequences
Peter Gabriel’s music video, directed by John Downer, combines live-action,
animation and insect and botanical special effects.
Candy Jam
Format: 16mm
Running time: 7 minutes
Year: 1988
Role: Co- Producer, director, animator with Joanna Priestley
A whimsical tribute to candy by directors: David Anderson, Karen Aqua,
Craig Bartlet, Tom and Elizabeth Gasek, Marv Newland, Christine Penuska
Meet the Raisins
Format: 35mm
Running time: 24 minutes
Year: 1988
Role: Set designer
A television special produced by Will Vinton Studios for CBS.
Claymation Christmas Celebration
Format: 35mm
Running time: 24 minutes
Year: 1887
Role: Sequence director
A television special produced by Will Vinton Studios for CBS.
Vanz Can’t Danz
Format: music video
Running time: 4 minutes
Year: 1986
Role: Set designer and animator
A music video for John Fogerty combining live action and clay animation.
Return to Oz
Format: 35mm feature film
Running time: 90 minutes
Year: 1986
Role: Animator
A live action, animation and special-effects feature based on the books by
Frank Baum.
The Adventures of Mark Twain
Format: 35mm feature film
Running time: 80 minutes
Year: 1984
Role: Set designer, special-effects designer and animator
An all clay-animated feature film incorporating the stories of Mark Twain.
The Creation
Format: 35mm
Running time: 9 minutes
Year: 1981
Role: Production designer and animator
A claypainted film based on a poem by James Weldon Johnson
and narrated by James Earl Jones.
Dinosaur
Format: 35mm
Running time: 14 minutes
Year: 1980
Role: Animator
An accurate, playful depict time when dinosaurs ruled.
