The Ballad of Holland Island House is a short animation made with an innovative clay-painting technique in which a thin layer of oil-based clay comes to vibrant life frame by frame. Animator Lynn Tomlinson tells the true story of the last house on a sinking island in the Chesapeake Bay. Told from the house's point of view, this film is a soulful and haunting view of the impact of sea-level rise. The film is in the permanent collection of the MoMA's education department.

Oscar-nominated documentarians Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (Trouble the Water) describe it as a “totally mesmerizing, thoughtful and immersive piece.”

You can follow the film's progress on this FACEBOOK PAGE.

For occasional updates about this and other projects, sign up for Lynn Tomlinson's Animation Newsletter:

A PEEK BEHIND THE SCENES

Screenings & Awards

  • First Place Winner  - Greenpeace Poscards from Climate Change

  • Golden Glovie - Top Score for Animation, Glovebox Short Film and Animation Festival

  • Jury's Citation, 2nd Prize, Black Maria Film Festival, Touring Program

  • Special Jury Award, Alexandria Film Festival
     

  • Official Selection:

  • Chesapeake Film Festival, Easton, MD (Premiere)

  • Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital

  • Environmental Film Festival at Yale

  • RVA Richmond, Virginia Environmental FIlm Festival

  • Colorado Enviromental Film Festival, Touring Program

  • Indie Grits, Columbia, SC

  • Cinanima, Portugal

  • WAMM Fest, Women and Minorities in Media

  • Chinemonos, Santiago, Chile

  • SENE Film, Music & Arts Festival, Providence, RI

  • Blue Sky Animation Festival

  • Tricky Women Animation Festival: Feelings, Ballads & Poetry

  • Shastaland Children's Film Festival

  • Experia, Sedicicorto, Italy

  • Feel Free to Feel Green, Athens Airport, Athens, Greece, Video Art Festival

  • International Non-Commercial Animation Festival BEAR, Dresden, Germany
     

  • George Washington University, GWMEMSI, Transition, Scale, Catastrophe Symposium, Invited Screening & talk

  • Philadelphia Independents at the Plastic Club, Invited Screening

  • Cornell Cinema Screening

  • Cornell University, Animating Anthropology, Symposium in honor of Professor Robert Ascher, Screening & talk