Martine Chartrand

Where she calls home: Montreal, Canada

Fluid frame technique: Oil paint on glass

Fluid frame films: Black Soul (2000), MacPherson (2012)

Martine Chartrand is a Montreal-born, Haitian-Canadian animator, painter/illustrator and teacher. She completed her first animated film, TV Tango, in 1992; it went on to win several international awards. She later travelled to Russia for advanced training with Alexander Petrov, one of the masters of paint-on-glass animation. After returning to Canada, she perfected the difficult technique and used it to brilliant effect on her next two films, Black Soul (2000), winner of 23 international awards, including the prestigious Golden Bear at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival, and MacPherson (2010), which also earned many honours. In 2020, she received the René Jodoin Award in recognition of her remarkable career, her social engagement and her influence in the field of Canadian animation.

ProTip: From Petrov, I learned to question my animation: “Why is this scene so important? What is this thing that you shouldn’t have moved because it’s not working or it’s not important?” He inspired me to be like Sherlock Holmes on my own work – to find the problems and question them so I do not put not too much energy on a scene that I don’t need.