Short Film of the Day: ‘The Ballad of Holland Island House’

March 25, 2020

Part documentary, part anthropomorphic allegory, part Irish folk tune, The Ballad of Holland Island House (2015) is an emotionally involving, stunningly animated tale of a real Chesapeake Bay building slowly succumbing to erosion and rising seas. Created by Lynn Tomlinson in an Impressionistic, clay-on-glass, stop-motion style – with soulful music by Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle – the four-minute film combines the imagery of Winslow Homer and Vincent Van Gogh with the urgency of historic preservation and climate-change awareness.

I first came across the film at Orlando’s Global Peace Film Festival in 2015. Since then, I’ve had the honor of interviewing Tomlinson. Go here to read that interview.

To read more about Holland Island, visit Wikipedia.