Caroline Leaf was born in Seattle, Washington on August 12, 1946. She lived in Boston for most of her life but stayed in Seattle with her parents and sister every summer. She later moved to Seattle alone to live with her grandparents and cousins. Leaf attended Radcliffe College, which was affiliated with Harvard University, for visual arts from 1964-1968. She had no prior familial implications to film nor was she interested in Cinema until she saw her first European film in university. Initially Leaf wanted to pursue architecture. During her last year of studies she randomly enrolled in an animation class as an elective. The class was taught by Derek Lamb and while she could not draw, Lamb encouraged his students to focus on movement and to work under a camera. He requested his students bring an object to class as their focus of animation and Leaf chose beach sand. This is when she created sand animation. Using this technique, she produced her first film Sand, or Peter and the Wolf and was awarded a scholarship from Harvard University. After graduation, she moved to Italy for a year to focus on her drawing. She then completed a Post-doctoral degree at Harvard where she pioneered Paint-on-glass animation. It is with this new technique that she produced her second animated film, Orfeo. She then did a bit of freelance work and produced How Beaver Stole Fire. During that time, her animation professor Derek Lamb was hired as head of the English animation department at the National Film Board of Canada. Leaf moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada to work as an animator for the NFBC in 1972. She retired from the NFBC in 1992 to pursue Documentary film work. Leaf currently lives in London and is a tutor at The National Film and Television School.
Career
Leaf made her first film, Sand, or Peter and the Wolf, in 1969 at Harvard University. The short was made by dumping sand on a light box and manipulating the textures frame-by-frame. Her second film, Orfeo, had her painting directly on glass under the camera. Later that year she was invited to join the National Film Board of Canada's English Animation Studio. During her first year and a half of working at the NFBC, she lived in the Arctic. There she studied and collaborated with an Inuit artist to complete her third film, . In this short animation, the character's speak Inuktitut which was seen as representative of Canadian culture. Her most renowned short film was The Street, which was produced with a mix of paint and glycerin. It was adapted from the short story of the same name by Mordechai Richler, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 49th Academy Awards. From 1981 until 1986, she worked on various live action documentary films. In 1986, she produced her first animation in nearly a decade by scratching on 70mm color film and reshooting it on 35mm film. Leaf used this method for her filmTwo Sisters which she worked on for two years. Removing the black of the film revealed colours that varied on each stock, thus making each frame unique to the other. The tone and narrative of this film was dark in theme. She also experimented with extreme camera angles. Two Sisters won the award for best short film at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 1991. She worked as an animator/director at the NFB until 1991. In 1991 she left animation to work on documentary films. In 2004 she contributed animation to a film about the Underground Railroad and co-directed "Suite for freedom". It was included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2004. She now works at The National Film and Television School in London.
Animation techniques and influence
Leaf believed that "animation at the time impeded spontaneity and artistic exploration" This led to her pioneering: Sand animation, Paint on glass, and hand etching on film stock. All of her techniques have been described as having "fluid transitions". She used different techniques to best tell the story of each of her films which showcased her narrative-based style. She created simple anecdotal and fictional stories based on literary works. Her films contain characters with relatable and complex issues. Her art reflects her often dark narrative content. She claims that she is "a storyteller first. Everything else in my animations are for the benefit of the story." Leaf is also considered an influential Canadian and French Canadian filmmaker for her long standing service with the NFB and her representation of Canadian culture in her films. This can mainly be seen in her films The Street, The Owl who Married the Goose, and Kate and Anna McGarrigle.
