Jana Kattan - Checkpoint

Checkpoint is my award-winning animated short film, which I pitched and was selected to direct throughout my third year of university.

The film is 5 minutes long and was made between October 2020-July 2021 with a core team of 7 other students.

I(Stills from the final film- see crew list below)

" Set in the occupied territory of modern-day Palestine known as the West Bank, Checkpoint follows 11 year old Leila, who wakes up before dawn every morning to try to get to school on time. "

"Her obstacle is the military occupation of her environment- specifically, the notorious checkpoint she must cross everyday to get to her school. Despite Leila’s best efforts to prepare, she cannot control the seemingly endless queue, or the strong possibility she will be randomly denied access to the other side."

Checkpoint is currently being submitted to festivals and must remain password protected during this time...

(Please email janakattan10@gmail.com to request viewing).

Crew List:

Jana Kattan: (Director) Storyboarding, Character Design, Animation, Sound

Jesse Rist: (Producer): Concept, Layout, Animation, Compositing & Editing, Sound

Clara Cornish: Storyboarding, Animation

Declan Field: Concept, Layout, Animation, Clean Up and Colour

Henry McLaughlin: Storyboarding, Colour Scripts, Animation

Morgan Harris: Concept, Prop Design, Layout, Clean up and Colour

Zeina Abu- Zayed: Character Design, Animation

Original Animatic and design work:

This was the rough animatic I made for Checkpoint in order to pitch the general story and get people on-board. I made storyboards, an animatic, various concept design pieces and an inspiration-reel to go alongside a 10-minute verbal presentation.

Checkpoint was voted and selected (out of approx. 60 pitch ideas) to be worked on as one (of 12) of Arts University Bournemouth's graduate animated films.

Sound from Yoav Shamir's documentary also called Checkpoint (2003), Music: 'Abu Jayab' by Sara Hany

Pitch material:

A selection of design and storyboard work that I made in order to pitch Checkpoint.