Sealy – Short Film Info

A dyslexic kindergarten student named Michy just can't fit into the usual classroom mold. She is frustrated because her teacher doesn't know she has a disability or understand why she can't just behave like the other children. The letters on the blackboard taunt her as much as the children in class do. Michy finds her own way of learning with the help of her imaginary friend, a Hawaiian Monk seal pup named Sealy.

Written, Directed and Animated by Michelle Jericho Poppler
Based on children’s book “Sealy” by Lupita Poppler

VOICE TALENT

Sealy: Scott Hanada
Michy: Larissa Nilsen
Mrs. Ishy: Michelle Umipeg
Random kid: Michelle Poppler

“Sealy” theme song composed and performed by Peter Poppler

 

Here are some stills from “Sealy” it has just played at the Pipeline Underground Film Festival and I’m hoping to get it screened at HIFF and other festivals as well.

Sealy movie poster

Here's my little movie poster, based on the sketch I posted earlier. I drew the objects in pencil, vectorized and did basic coloring and gradient fills in illustrator, then composted in Photoshop.

The SEALY logo is the scanned design is from my mother's book cover, the entire poster design was also inspired by my mother's illustrations in her book. Thanks mom! =)

And just wait till you hear the Sealy theme song, my dad wrote it for me to complement the book in 1985. I wanted to be an animator since I was a kid, so we always talked about how cool it would be to animate Sealy. My dad would play the song all the time for me, that was my favorite thing. So this has been 25 years in the making... and a family project!