STONES is a folk horror stop motion animation about nostalgia for home and connection to landscape. 

When you grow up in the countryside and leave for the city, returning home is a complex experience. Everything has changed and it’s hard to see where you belong. But when you walk out into the countryside, away from the people, the landscape has the same spirit as when you left. There is a permanence in the earth and the stones. You can tie your soul to the land. This film is an exploration of the yearning for belonging, with the added complexity of race - which we are highlighting by placing the characters as British East Asians, eating a picnic of Southeast Asian food.

As a writer-director duo, Bec Boey and Joseph Brett’s work sits at the intersection of both of their interests and values: Joseph’s rural background and cult-influenced upbringing in Sussex, and Bec’s experience as a mixed-race British East and Southeast Asian with a love for a countryside she doesn’t always feel welcome in. 

STONES premiered at The London International Animation Festival in 2021 and premiered online at Directors Notes in 2023.

Director - Joseph Brett

Joseph is an award-winning film-maker, animator and cofounder of Jackdaw.
Joseph’s work includes Little Tibet (feature length documentary), Jade Dragon webseries, Troll Hunters, Sleep Tight, Ken and Carol Lose the Plot, and music videos for artists including Ezra Furman, Efterklang, The Leisure Society and Allo Darlin, as well as an animation for Red Hot Chilli Peppers. His music video work has been featured in Creative Review, Cool Hunting and It’s Nice That. He is also known for his claymation recreations of classic scenes from cult horror movies.

Writer - Bec Boey

Bec is a writer, actor and co-founder of Jackdaw. 

She is a graduate of the Royal Court Young Writers’ Programme and the BBC Writers Room London Voices group, and as a BEATS fellow was mentored by Vinay Patel. 

Her writing work includes Jade Dragon webseries, Troll Hunters, Sleep Tight (Jackdaw), Locusts (Audible), Temporal (StoryPunk and Sweet Talk Productions). Her horror feature film The Lambeth Worm is in development with Joi Productions and the BFI. Her comedy series Tiger Bairn, with Brock Media, has been commissioned to pilot script by the BBC.

Producer - Chi Thai

Chi Thai is an independent filmmaker who works across features, documentary, animation & immersive. She has been a Cannes Lions finalist three times and is a recipient of the British Film Institute Vision Award. Her ambition is to dismantle the conditions that marginalise stories & storytellers, creating films that tell of a greener and fairer world.