Shira Avni, MFA
Associate Professor (Film Animation), Cinema
![Shira Avni, MFA](/etc/designs/concordia/resources/file.jpg?did=6913)
Email: | shira.avni@concordia.ca |
Website(s): |
Research Page National Film Board of Canada Director's Page Two One Two Festival Page Two One Two - National Film Board of Canada FAP page |
Availability: |
Please note that as a neurodivergent faculty member, I much prefer email contact to telephone, and rarely check voicemail. My office hours are Wednesday and Thursday 10-12, by appointment only. Please email me at least 48 hours in advance. Thank you! |
Her 2023 film, Two One Two, has won 11 international awards and 4 nominations to date, including the Special Jury Prize at the Sommets du Cinéma d'animation, Best Animated Film at the Berlin Short Film Festival, and the Prix du Public at PPFAM. Two One Two begins its public life with over 95 festival screenings in multiple cities across Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Korea, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uruguay, the UK, and others.
Avni is the proud recipient of a 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award at Concordia, where she teaches Under Camera animation, Animated Documentary, and Advanced Animation Filmmaking classes. Her current research weaves documentary, animation, and personal memoir to address neurodiversity, identity, social justice, motherhood, and interdependence through luminous clay-on-glass animation, back-lit to create the shimmering effect of stained glass in motion.
![](/etc/designs/concordia/resources/file.jpg?did=7148&w=197)
![](/etc/designs/concordia/resources/file.jpg?did=6499&w=197)
![](/etc/designs/concordia/resources/file.jpg?did=2461&w=197)
Teaching activities
Teaching
Area of Expertise
Film Animation, Under Camera Animation, Animated Documentary
Video links
John and Michael
John and Michael by Shira Avni, National Film Board of Canada
John and Michael pays homage to two men with Down's syndrome who shared an intimate and profoundly loving relationship that deeply affected the filmmaker. Animated with clay backlit on glass, the film shimmers like stained glass in motion.
Tying Your Own Shoes
Tying Your Own Shoes by Shira Avni, National Film Board of Canada
Tying Your Own Shoes is an intimate glimpse into the exceptional mindsets and emotional lives of four adult artists with Down Syndrome. An artful, four-way essay about ability, this animated film explores how it feels to be a little bit unusual.
Petra's Poem
Petra's Poem by Shira Avni, National Film Board of Canada
In this short film, Toronto artist Petra Tolley, who has Down syndrome, performs a soliloquy that encapsulates her distinctive take on the social self. Employing rotoscopy, hand-drawn animation techniques and subtle stereoscopic 3D, the film captures Petra as she engages the camera with unflinching directness and dignity.