Haircut

a film by Gillian Wood

10 min - 2011 - UK/Germany

A young woman has a haircut. When she leaves the salon, the new haircut causes mayhem in the streets.

“I was sitting on the underground train and opposite me was a young woman. Her hair was piled up on top of her head, it was such a huge pile of hair that I thought it looked like a separate living thing, like an animal. Then I thought about how long hair is part of your past, growing with you for so long and getting a haircut is like chopping off the past, but the past is never really ‘gone’. The story for ‘Haircut’ came out of this and I thought it would be suitable for a short film, and something ordinary and everyday but with a magical element.”
Gillian Wood

Gillian Wood
Gillian Wood was born in the seaside town Blackpool, northern England. She trained at Blackpool College of Art, then Leeds Metropolitan University graduating with her first short animated film “Romany”. She went on to study at the National Film and Television School in England as a director of animation.
During this time, her tendency towards surrealism led her to the Czech Republic and to the studio of legendary film maker Jan Švankmajer who was at the time making his feature film “Faust” in which she played the part of the marionette queen.
She graduated from film school with “The Red Wolf”, a live action and animated film which was screened at festivals and awarded a jury prize at the Chicago International film Festival.
She wrote a documentary script about the life and work of the artist Leonora Carrington, an original member of the 1930’s surrealist group in Paris, and interviewed her in New York.
In 2000 Gillian moved to Berlin. She was awarded a grant for women artists and wrote a feature film screenplay, and soon after that wrote and directed a short film "Haircut”.

Directed by: Gillian Wood
Produced by: Gillian Wood & Malte Behrmann - Jolly Hockeysticks
Animation: Maurice Croissier