Enter the world of
When you’re three inches tall, a cluttered attic can offer a world of mystery and wonder. In fact, in this particular abandoned house, nearly any object might come to life! Welcome to the extraordinary world of the rustniks, curious and unique characters made from rusty nicknacks and discarded objects. Meet Zip, the intrepid urban explorer and his brave friend Wheel, as they navigate the labyrinthine interior of an ancestral home, its rooms filled with antique furniture, stacks of books, vintage toys and unlikely treasures. Danger lurks in the shadows and troublesome mice, snake-like measuring tapes, and unknown creatures challenge them on their journey. Along the way Zip will unlock the unexpected secrets of the past as well as the key to the future for all Rustniks.
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THE FILMS
FORAGE is the second award-winning short film in the Rustnik series. From the sandbox mind of creator and filmmaker, Carolyn Gair, these characters were conceived using discarded inanimate found-objects and brought to life through the magic of stopmotion. The hero of these films is Zip, with his iconic sardine-can-opener head. First seen in the 2023 award-winning short film FLOWER, Zip returns in 2024 to delight audiences in his second film FORAGE. Zip’s third film TIN TUNE (in festival theaters 2025), introduces us to an even larger cast of familiar-yet-exotic characters, as Zip and Wheel discover a forgotten music room full of antique instruments. True-to-form, the mice return to plague our friends, this time armed with an arsenal of tin soldiers, adding to this delightful adventure. The world of the Rustniks is as familiar as your grandmother’s attic, yet as original as anything you’ve ever seen!
THE FILMMAKER
Carolyn Gair is the creative artist, filmmaker, and animator behind the Rustnik films. Her 30 year career working for Hollywood animation studios like Disney and Warner Bros, led her to open her own studio in 2019, Bowling4Rhinos Productions. Here she creates original stop-motion projects, both feature length and shorts. Her work as an artist, foraging for discarded man-made objects from the past and combining them into found-object-art creations has given her a seemingly endless and unique palette from which the Rustnik characters and their environment spring to life.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT
“Stop-motion isn’t a genre, it’s a sandbox of possibilities. I mean, what could be better? You’re inventing worlds and moving toys around frame by frame, basically playing master of the universe!”
