Freaks of Nurture (2018) is a stop-motion short directed by Alexandra Lemay and produced by the National Film Board of Canada
Freaks of Nurture (2018) is a stop-motion short directed by Alexandra Lemay and produced by the National Film Board of Canada
Freaks of Nurture (2018) is a stop-motion short directed by Alexandra Lemay and produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
It’s six and a half minutes of pure craftsmanship. The story? A daughter dealing with her wildly quirky mother—who somehow balances raising kids, fostering dogs, renovating houses, and never breaking a sweat. Amanda Plummer voices the mom, and the whole thing is inspired by Lemay’s real life.
What floored me wasn’t just the humor, but the detail. One scene has spaghetti flying straight at the lens, and you catch yourself thinking: wait, this is clay. That’s the magic of it—every little gag is handmade.
And here’s the thing: people give endless hype to Japanese anime, but Canada has been quietly dominating animation for decades. The National Film Board has more Oscars than any other studio outside the U.S., most of them in animation. Freaks of Nurture fits right into that legacy, and it’s picked up its own share of festival awards.
Short film? Sure. But it’s also six minutes and thirty seconds of stop-motion at its best.