Plot of "Letter to a Pig":
On Memorial Day, a Holocaust survivor reads a letter he once wrote to the pig that saved his life, sharing it with a classroom of teenagers.As his testimony unfolds, a young schoolgirl drifts into a surreal and haunting dream—one that forces her to confront the tangled depths of collective trauma, memory, and identity.
Amit Russell Gicelter is an Academy Award-nominated producer, accomplished content creator, and the founder and CEO of The Hive Studio. Established in 2010 in Israel, The Hive Studio has since evolved into a premier animation hub and has over 40 animators across four locations in Israel and Greece.
1. If you had to describe “Letter to a Pig” using three words, it would be…?
Wow, three words. I think it would be powerful, inspirational, and... Unique.
2. What is the genesis of “Letter to a Pig”?
I do know how the story came to be in Tal's eyes. Tal Kantor, she's the director of the project. It all started from a dream that she had after an interview that she spent the time hearing in a classroom in her school. She went home and she had a dream about this pig and holocaust survivor. I think that was kind of where the story originated from. Since then, it went through so many changes and developments that it essentially became something over a period of 20 years. It took time to reincarnate as a short-animated film, but that original dream that she had is something that was always kept in her mind and she kind of went back to it after her studies.
3. Were there other titles you came up with before “Letter to a Pig”? If so, what were they?
Honestly, I don't think they were. mean. I think Tal and I were deliberating on leaving it as just like a letter or a thank you letter. But we never wanted to kind of talk about the historical period, about the subject matter of the film. So, we gave it an interesting name to so it can resonate.
4. What challenges did you face making the animated short?
There are many challenges that we can put our finger on, but luckily, my studio - The Hive, we are an animation studio. And one of the added values of developing and creating with us is the fact that we work on different pipelines, different workflows for animation. Now, this film was incredibly ambitious. Tal had a vision, an artistic vision that we had to somehow articulate into an animated style and technique. Nearly every frame that was created used a video reference, like many animated films do, but after being drawn then it was printed on paper and then hand painted with a brush, which was very specific and meticulously drawn after many examples and tests. So, I think that the development stage of this film was probably the most challenging of the processes that we had in this film because we wanted to kind of take something that was in her mind. and then creating a workflow that was suitable for a production. That was definitely something that was challenging for us to create and eventually what brought us to creating this unique story and film.
5. What was your experience working with director Tal Kantor?
Tal is an incredible person. She's very creative and passionate and she's a perfectionist. She dreams big but also knows eventually how to put that on paper. The film took us about five years to create. Since the moment that she came to us with the project and even during the Oscar campaign, we developed a bond that I think we would both agree that we love working together. As a creator and as a producer, we found a way to understand each other even without words. We understand how to implement a vision and still balance that with what we are capable of doing in a production. I'm just waiting for the next project to work with her again, because I'm so excited to find a way to bring her stories and collaborative essence to life.
6. While promoting the short film around the world, are there any memorable moments you would like to share?
One of the best moments I had with Tal was when we were invited to a festival in Japan. It was called the Media Arts Festival. It was an opportunity we couldn't refuse. Thanks to this event, it opened up a dream of my own to travel to Japan and to experience the culture and the people and doing that with Tal also connected us even further. It gave us something that we will always cherish. It's an experience that is literally unforgettable. The people there admired the film and it will always resonate in our minds as something that opened up the world for us. Thanks to this film, thanks to the power of this film, we managed to connect with other cultures that we wouldn’t have done otherwise with this kind of style and this kind of story. So, I think it will always be the first thing that comes to mind as a memorable moment I’d never forget.
7. Congratulations on getting Oscar’s nominations for Best Animated Short film in the 96th Academy Awards, how did you first find out that your film got nominated?
It was a live broadcast. We had an incredible strategist Benoît Berthe Siward from the Animation showcase who was helping us and explaining to us what to do with the campaign of this film and during the first stages of the process (and later of course as well). Once we were shortlisted, part of waiting for the results was to wait for this live broadcast, which was revealing each category one by one. We gathered the team from all around the world because we had people from all over who were working on this project. We set up a Zoom meeting with everyone on the different screens. We all waited together, all in different time zones. all with champagne at hand in case something would happen. We were just so excited to see to experience this moment. We were very happy to hear the good news and anxiously, we were kind of following the announcements. The moment it happened, it was ecstatic. Can you imagine seeing your name on a big screen on a live event? We even recorded the moment on social media. It was really an experience that you can't forget. I still try to remember that moment and how we reacted and would I have reacted otherwise. It is still a shock. It's still a shock to remember that moment where they say the name of your film and it's kind of like, “Oh my gosh, it's incredible”. It was alot of fun
8. At the ceremony, which celebrity did you get to meet and chat with?
Yeah, I actually had met a couple. One of the events that happens a couple of days before the ceremony is called a luncheon. It's an event where they invite all the nominees to come and sit together and they set you up at different tables. I think that the most inspirational person that I followed and grew up on was Steven Spielberg who said congratulations and said that he's gonna watch the movie. It was kind of an exciting moment to know that someone at his capacity, at his ability, will see a project that you worked on the other side of the world to create. So, it was such an honor to shake his hand and meet him. We also met other incredible people who were nominated in the same year. yeah, it’s just a cherishable moment that I will always remember.
9. Did you meet the other Oscar nominees as well? If so, who?
Yeah, so I think that's one of the most beautiful things about animation, or at least in our short film category as well, was that all the nominees became friends. Yes, it's a competition. Yes, there is someone who will eventually win, but there was something beautiful about the collaboration and the partnership that grew between us. The other nominees had incredible films and each one had his own strategy and his own way of trying to get his movie out there. We just became friends and I'm still friends with them until today. I still catch up with them when I'm in LA and I still try checking in to see how they're doing and what projects are they working on and maybe they want to work together. So, I think it creates a community. The Academy itself creates a community with people that I would have never probably met without this award. It was such an incredible honor to be part of this and to continue to be part of this because I became a member myself the following year. And being part of this, I know more about the industry in Europe and the industry in North America. It gives me a bigger prospect of how I could be part of the bigger animation community.
10. Which party did you go to after the ceremony?
We went to one of the after parties and we eventually ended up in the Roosevelt Hotel party. Even though we weren't successful, we still felt like winners and kind of celebrated our hours until the late hours of the night.
11. Did you dance during the “I Am Just Ken” segment? Also, could you describe the energy of room during Ryan Gosling’s performance for us that weren’t physically at the Oscars?
Well, I do believe that the musical segments during the award ceremony were incredible. It's orchestrated and so vivid and lively and exciting. I remember myself being excited at that moment in time, just because being at the ceremony itself is such an incredible opportunity. I remember enjoying every moment, the jokes and the music and specifically, yes, Ryan Gosling singing. I think it was an awesome moment. I definitely remember enjoying every moment.
12. Are there any novella, novel, short story, article, or even poem that you would like to see in an animated film or TV series?
There is a project that we're currently working on, which is actually inspired by a book [ Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean by Edward Kritzler]. We're trying to develop stories about forgotten pirates. Now, culturally, we all recognize the pirates as gold diggers sailing the seven seas stealing and robbing. While doing research, we found a book about the Jewish pirates of the Caribbean. It's a book that told the stories of a community of Jewish settlers, Jewish people who were living in the Caribbean, right after the Spanish Inquisition, because during the Spanish Inquisition, a lot of Jews escaped Spain and Portugal to survive. That opened up a whole research about that period and we discovered so much more about there pirates that the book itself contained - for example, did you know that Columbus, for example, many of his ship crew, were Jewish people who tried to escape the inquisition? They settled all across North America, and some of which were in the Caribbean. So that's something that we're trying to develop in the Hive studio. And we're always looking for partners all around the world who are interested in pirate stories, Jewish stories, but also telling interesting, unique animated film stories.
On Memorial Day, a Holocaust survivor reads a letter he once wrote to the pig that saved his life, sharing it with a classroom of teenagers.As his testimony unfolds, a young schoolgirl drifts into a surreal and haunting dream—one that forces her to confront the tangled depths of collective trauma, memory, and identity.
Amit Russell Gicelter is an Academy Award-nominated producer, accomplished content creator, and the founder and CEO of The Hive Studio. Established in 2010 in Israel, The Hive Studio has since evolved into a premier animation hub and has over 40 animators across four locations in Israel and Greece.
1. If you had to describe “Letter to a Pig” using three words, it would be…?
Wow, three words. I think it would be powerful, inspirational, and... Unique.
2. What is the genesis of “Letter to a Pig”?
I do know how the story came to be in Tal's eyes. Tal Kantor, she's the director of the project. It all started from a dream that she had after an interview that she spent the time hearing in a classroom in her school. She went home and she had a dream about this pig and holocaust survivor. I think that was kind of where the story originated from. Since then, it went through so many changes and developments that it essentially became something over a period of 20 years. It took time to reincarnate as a short-animated film, but that original dream that she had is something that was always kept in her mind and she kind of went back to it after her studies.
3. Were there other titles you came up with before “Letter to a Pig”? If so, what were they?
Honestly, I don't think they were. mean. I think Tal and I were deliberating on leaving it as just like a letter or a thank you letter. But we never wanted to kind of talk about the historical period, about the subject matter of the film. So, we gave it an interesting name to so it can resonate.
4. What challenges did you face making the animated short?
There are many challenges that we can put our finger on, but luckily, my studio - The Hive, we are an animation studio. And one of the added values of developing and creating with us is the fact that we work on different pipelines, different workflows for animation. Now, this film was incredibly ambitious. Tal had a vision, an artistic vision that we had to somehow articulate into an animated style and technique. Nearly every frame that was created used a video reference, like many animated films do, but after being drawn then it was printed on paper and then hand painted with a brush, which was very specific and meticulously drawn after many examples and tests. So, I think that the development stage of this film was probably the most challenging of the processes that we had in this film because we wanted to kind of take something that was in her mind. and then creating a workflow that was suitable for a production. That was definitely something that was challenging for us to create and eventually what brought us to creating this unique story and film.
5. What was your experience working with director Tal Kantor?
Tal is an incredible person. She's very creative and passionate and she's a perfectionist. She dreams big but also knows eventually how to put that on paper. The film took us about five years to create. Since the moment that she came to us with the project and even during the Oscar campaign, we developed a bond that I think we would both agree that we love working together. As a creator and as a producer, we found a way to understand each other even without words. We understand how to implement a vision and still balance that with what we are capable of doing in a production. I'm just waiting for the next project to work with her again, because I'm so excited to find a way to bring her stories and collaborative essence to life.
6. While promoting the short film around the world, are there any memorable moments you would like to share?
One of the best moments I had with Tal was when we were invited to a festival in Japan. It was called the Media Arts Festival. It was an opportunity we couldn't refuse. Thanks to this event, it opened up a dream of my own to travel to Japan and to experience the culture and the people and doing that with Tal also connected us even further. It gave us something that we will always cherish. It's an experience that is literally unforgettable. The people there admired the film and it will always resonate in our minds as something that opened up the world for us. Thanks to this film, thanks to the power of this film, we managed to connect with other cultures that we wouldn’t have done otherwise with this kind of style and this kind of story. So, I think it will always be the first thing that comes to mind as a memorable moment I’d never forget.
7. Congratulations on getting Oscar’s nominations for Best Animated Short film in the 96th Academy Awards, how did you first find out that your film got nominated?
It was a live broadcast. We had an incredible strategist Benoît Berthe Siward from the Animation showcase who was helping us and explaining to us what to do with the campaign of this film and during the first stages of the process (and later of course as well). Once we were shortlisted, part of waiting for the results was to wait for this live broadcast, which was revealing each category one by one. We gathered the team from all around the world because we had people from all over who were working on this project. We set up a Zoom meeting with everyone on the different screens. We all waited together, all in different time zones. all with champagne at hand in case something would happen. We were just so excited to see to experience this moment. We were very happy to hear the good news and anxiously, we were kind of following the announcements. The moment it happened, it was ecstatic. Can you imagine seeing your name on a big screen on a live event? We even recorded the moment on social media. It was really an experience that you can't forget. I still try to remember that moment and how we reacted and would I have reacted otherwise. It is still a shock. It's still a shock to remember that moment where they say the name of your film and it's kind of like, “Oh my gosh, it's incredible”. It was alot of fun
8. At the ceremony, which celebrity did you get to meet and chat with?
Yeah, I actually had met a couple. One of the events that happens a couple of days before the ceremony is called a luncheon. It's an event where they invite all the nominees to come and sit together and they set you up at different tables. I think that the most inspirational person that I followed and grew up on was Steven Spielberg who said congratulations and said that he's gonna watch the movie. It was kind of an exciting moment to know that someone at his capacity, at his ability, will see a project that you worked on the other side of the world to create. So, it was such an honor to shake his hand and meet him. We also met other incredible people who were nominated in the same year. yeah, it’s just a cherishable moment that I will always remember.
9. Did you meet the other Oscar nominees as well? If so, who?
Yeah, so I think that's one of the most beautiful things about animation, or at least in our short film category as well, was that all the nominees became friends. Yes, it's a competition. Yes, there is someone who will eventually win, but there was something beautiful about the collaboration and the partnership that grew between us. The other nominees had incredible films and each one had his own strategy and his own way of trying to get his movie out there. We just became friends and I'm still friends with them until today. I still catch up with them when I'm in LA and I still try checking in to see how they're doing and what projects are they working on and maybe they want to work together. So, I think it creates a community. The Academy itself creates a community with people that I would have never probably met without this award. It was such an incredible honor to be part of this and to continue to be part of this because I became a member myself the following year. And being part of this, I know more about the industry in Europe and the industry in North America. It gives me a bigger prospect of how I could be part of the bigger animation community.
10. Which party did you go to after the ceremony?
We went to one of the after parties and we eventually ended up in the Roosevelt Hotel party. Even though we weren't successful, we still felt like winners and kind of celebrated our hours until the late hours of the night.
11. Did you dance during the “I Am Just Ken” segment? Also, could you describe the energy of room during Ryan Gosling’s performance for us that weren’t physically at the Oscars?
Well, I do believe that the musical segments during the award ceremony were incredible. It's orchestrated and so vivid and lively and exciting. I remember myself being excited at that moment in time, just because being at the ceremony itself is such an incredible opportunity. I remember enjoying every moment, the jokes and the music and specifically, yes, Ryan Gosling singing. I think it was an awesome moment. I definitely remember enjoying every moment.
12. Are there any novella, novel, short story, article, or even poem that you would like to see in an animated film or TV series?
There is a project that we're currently working on, which is actually inspired by a book [ Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean by Edward Kritzler]. We're trying to develop stories about forgotten pirates. Now, culturally, we all recognize the pirates as gold diggers sailing the seven seas stealing and robbing. While doing research, we found a book about the Jewish pirates of the Caribbean. It's a book that told the stories of a community of Jewish settlers, Jewish people who were living in the Caribbean, right after the Spanish Inquisition, because during the Spanish Inquisition, a lot of Jews escaped Spain and Portugal to survive. That opened up a whole research about that period and we discovered so much more about there pirates that the book itself contained - for example, did you know that Columbus, for example, many of his ship crew, were Jewish people who tried to escape the inquisition? They settled all across North America, and some of which were in the Caribbean. So that's something that we're trying to develop in the Hive studio. And we're always looking for partners all around the world who are interested in pirate stories, Jewish stories, but also telling interesting, unique animated film stories.
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