Join the Animated Conversation

Director: Sally Arthur, 2007

Best Short Short award at Bradford Animation Festival 2008, best Documentary at Rushes Soho Shorts.

This film is about Mrs P, eccentric artist and creator of the essential A-Z map of London. She lost herself in the streets of London, so we don’t have to. I still get lost in London, but that’s probably a combination of dyslexia and laziness on may part. This is an interesting story. How did Mrs P manage this incredible task?  Sally Arthur brings the question to life with imagination and wit. Set to the cool Music of Ollie Davis (some kind of Jazz Philip Glass), you feel the rush of facts and figures, the perpetual motion of the protagonist. This fast moving collage of drawings, cut-outs and hand drawn lettering is a breathless glimpse at the life of Mrs P and the chaos of 1930s London. She wore out shoes, wrestled with the seemingly endless stream of streets, place names and landmarks of London. She filled notebooks by the dozen but she did it. This short film is a fitting tribute to an unsung hero of the modern age.  Oh and in case you were wondering (I know I was) Mrs P’s real name is Mrs Phyllis Pearsall.