Master of whimsy, Michel Gondry and his daughter Maya harness storytelling while he works overseas, with Maya directing her Papa to create wild and whimsical stop motion animations suitable for all ages.
Brimming, inspired and liberating… [Michel Gondry] offers a delicious mélange of the surreal and the silly for all ages.
Maya, Give Me a Title 2024
Maya, donne-moi un autre titre
Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) works ocean away from his daughter but finds a creative way to keep in touch with her, making cut out stop motion animations from little ideas that she has, with her as the main character. Maya, Give Me a Title collects several of these whimsical, wild, and surreal animations that are sure to charm cinephiles of any age group with English subtitles cleverly displayed in an easy-to-read graphical style. The father and daughter duo whip up unpredictable stories about mermaids, the ocean turning into ketchup, thieving cats and volcanic eruptions and let the narrative go anywhere and everywhere turning them into charming, nonsensical epics.
Maya, Give Me a Title not only serves as a way of connection with his daughter but it also demonstrates Gondry’s unique sense of vision and by using shorter narratives, reminiscent of his fantastic music video work for artists like Bjork and Daft Punk. As they were originally conceived with the entertainment of one person in mind, you can feel Gondry’s fatherly love projected onto these shorts. — Jordan Salomen