Howie Shia is a young, multi-talented artist, whose name can be found on over a million Google search results. Under his name, you will find numerous animations, illustrations, designs and scores for independent films and commercial projects. Born in Saskatoon, Howie—along with his musician brothers Tim and Leo—is the founding partner of a Toronto-based music, design and film studio known as PPF House.

Howie’s work has been displayed all over the world, winning many awards and recognized for his brilliant talent and unimaginable skills. His work has been screened at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Lux in London, and at the University of Cairo. One of his most famous works is Flutter—a short, black and white, anime style film which was co-produced with PPF House and the National Film Board of Canada. Flutter (2006), went on to receive the 2007 Open Entries Grand Prize at the Tokyo Anime Fair, making Howie the first non-Japanese creator to win this award. In addition to the enormous recognition, Flutter also received the Jury Award from the Golden Sheaf Awards, as well as the award for best Quebec short feature at the Fantasia Festival. This week, I had the opportunity to interview the super-talented and young Canadian artist, Howie Shia.

Who did you idolize growing up? Whether it be film-related or not, and why?

My idol growing up was probably Miles Davis- which, for the record, as an 8th grader in Saskatchewan, this does not make you cool. Fortunately, I’ve always been very physically intimidating.

Do you have a signature or style to your work that makes it distinguishable from others'?

Ha! I don’t know...is incompetence a style? Honestly, I’m not sure I’m the right person to ask about that. I think creators’ views of their work is often very very different from what the rest of the world sees.

Is there anything about your ethnicity or background that you believe has influenced your vision in making films or is perhaps attributable to your approach to filmmaking?

When I was in grade 11, I was at Future Shop when I saw a computer that said it could be used to capture and edit films. I’d never seen this before and got really excited (I’m old. Leave me alone.) The next day, I told a friend about the computer and he said to me, “that’s cool, but seriously, when are you ever going to use that?” I thought about it for a moment, nodded in agreement and said, “probably never.”

Can you give us a quick synopsis of your featured performance for this year's Reel Asian?

The project, SCENES FROM NATURE, is a collection between myself and the collective musicians that make up PPF Music (The Worst Pop Band Ever, LEO37, MAGNOLIUS, the Abyss and Sunclef). It’s a seris of vignettes/songs presented by random travelers seeking shelter from a rain storm. It is essentially a bunch of animated background images that create a setting and context for each musician to perform against.

What was your driving force, your passion and/or inspiration behind making this film? Does it represent or relate to a certain time in your personal life? If so, how?

I like working with musicians. They’re cooler than filmmaker. They sweat and everybody cheers- they’re like athletes but with more body fat. Also, I think there’s an interesting thing that happens on stage when you combine animation with music. Animation, at the time of presentation, is by definition predetermined and microscopically precise, while live music is utterly linear and reactionary (especially for jazzers and freestyle rappers). As a result, you experience a really interesting tension watching musicians trying to create spontaneous music in response to something (animation) that is totally opposite of that.

What were your goal(s) in making this film? What kind of message(s) do you want to send to your viewers?

I don’t know, stay in school? That’s a good message.

Was the process of filmmaking always smooth-running? If not, what happened and how did you deal with it?

My process is pretty low concept (you sit and draw and then adjust and redo if it doesn’t look right) so I’m not sure what the difference is between smooth running and not smooth running. You work with the expectation to continually fix or redo stuff along the way

What advice would you give prospective filmmakers out there?

Go see some good theatre. It’s good for you. I’m not being facetious here. It’s useful to see a wide spectrum of make believe realities so that you can pick and choose what kind of reality you need to create to tell your story - even if you’re a documentarian. Also, there have been a lot more great plays written than there have been movies.

By Christine Jung for Schema Magazine.

Howie will be performing with THE WORST POP BAND EVER and also featuring his new animations at the Canadian Moviemakers Party at Reel Asian!

Filmmaker Profiles are done in partnership with Schema Magazine.