Sheila Graber
2021Toys Will Be Toys
Sheila Graber
The South Shields-born animator Sheila Graber looks at the growing gender bias in toys for girls and boys. At the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, monster killing machines and robots fight each other and toy soldiers in khaki battle against pink clad, cute dolls, threatened animals and fairies. The toys gradually find their traditional roles reversed and harmony returns to the fictional killing fields of a Christmas home.
Toys Will Be Toys
The Boy and the Cat
Sheila Graber
The first complete animation produced by Sheila Graber and set in her native South Shields. The film follows the adventures of a small boy and his cat as they walk through the snowy landscape, chase a Robin down onto the River Tyne and meet Father Christmas. The character of the boy is based upon Sheila’s nephew Nigel and the cat is based upon her own cat Whitey.
The Boy and the Cat
Larn Yersel' Geordie
Sheila Graber
Scott Dobson
An animated interpretation of Scott Dobson’s comic guide to the Geordie dialect, Larn Yersel’ Geordie, presented in three lessons. With artwork by South Shields animator Sheila Graber and narrated by Scott himself, the film takes a humorous – and at times outrageous – look at Geordie culture and language.
Larn Yersel' Geordie
Howway the Lasses
Sheila Graber
South Shields born animator Sheila Graber takes a wry look at the ups and downs of women’s quest for emancipation. Along the way, we meet some of the North East’s true pioneers – Northumbrian Jacobite heroine Dorothy Forster, gutsy Grace Darling, Labour class warrior and Jarrow crusader, Ellen Wilkinson, and the militant suffragette, Connie Lewcock. The title is the message, which subverts a popular Geordie chant: ‘Get a move on lasses!’
Howway the Lasses
My River Tyne
Sheila Graber
An animated film produced by Sheila Graber with music performed by Tom Gilfellon. The history of the River Tyne, from the source in Scotland to the mouth at South Shields, is pictured using pastel, paintings, drawings, personal photographs and documentary film footage.
My River Tyne
The Cat and the Tune
Sheila Graber
A flute playing cat leads a band composed of animals. The animated images accompany a recording of 'Eye Level'. Cats, mice, tigers, monkeys, camels, penguins, birds, as well as, a bear, a cheetah, an elephant, and a seagull appear with stop-clock precision to play instruments featured in the recording at appropriate points in the sound track. The flute-playing cat vies with a lion bandmaster in leading the band.
The Cat and the Tune
The Pigeon Cree
Sheila Graber
Mike Neville
A pastel animation produced by Sheila Graber and based upon the short story by Sid Chaplin. Narrated by north east broadcaster Mike Neville the film tells the story of Geordie, a miner, and his love for his pigeons and the trials and tribulations of his passion which is very popular around the region. The face of Sid Chaplin is used as Geordie.
The Pigeon Cree
The 12 Days of Christmas
Sheila Graber
A short Christmas animation produced by Sheila Graber based on the traditional carol ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’. The film focuses on Santa Claus as he introduces each of the twelve days to comic effect.
The 12 Days of Christmas
