Open Studios – Details, episodes & analysis

Creator and Director of the Academy Award nominated film “Retirement Plan” John Kelly and Writer Tara Lawall discuss their work and collaboration, making lists, and sneaky simpleness. 

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Watch Retirement Plan here

Learn more about the film here

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Open Studios

Retirement Plan

Johnny Kelly

Tara Lawall

Follow Open Studios on Substack @houseofk

Hi universe, and welcome to Open Studios, conversations with some of the world's most dynamic artists and innovators working in animation, film, illustration, and more. We talk craft and process, curation and collaboration, all driven by the human need to connect and create. Glad you’re here!

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Tomm Moore is a guardian and caretaker of stories and traditions. Together with Nora Twomey and Paul Young, Tomm co-founded the five-time Oscar nominated, Golden Globe nominated, and BAFTA winning studio Cartoon Saloon, headquartered in Kilkenny, Ireland.  Tomm directed three of those Oscar nominated films THE SECRET OF KELLS, SONG OF THE SEA, and WOLFWALKERS all instantly recognizable and deeply foraged in Irish art and lore.

Tomm and I talk creative partnerships, timelessness as a sort of trademark, and his next project KINDRED SPIRITS.

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Follow Tomm Moore  and Cartoon Saloon 

and check out Kindred Spirits teaser on YouTube

Mentioned on the show

Nora Twomey 

Paul Young 

Choctaw Nation

Shelley Dennis 

Waylon Whitedeer

Bird Runningwater

Louise Bagnall

Louise Bagnall’s Late Afternoon 

Eddie Lenihan 

Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love

Music provided by 

Brothers Vanguard, Electriq

Follow John Dufilho (one half of Brothers Vanguard, Electriq & my cousin)

Claire Keane is an acclaimed author, illustrator, and Emmy award-winning visual development artist known for her work on Disney’s Tangled and Frozen. Daughter of the legendary animator Glen Keane, Claire and I talk legacy, creative conviction and turning up the volume when the universe speaks. Claire’s latest book WHO ARE YOU? is out now. It’s beautiful and graceful and a bit wild…just like Claire.

WHO ARE YOU? is available now Claire’s website, and here (signed copies are available), and wherever books are sold.

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Claire Keane

House of K 

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Claire Keane

Open Studios 

Mentioned on the show

Zinqué Cafe in Venice Beach

Creative Pep Talk podcast

Sofia Coppola Archive 1993-2023

Duet - directed by Glen Keane

Dear Basketball - directed by Glen Keane and produced by Gennie Rim

Google Spotlight Stories

Play don’t practice: Stephen Franck’s work

Bay Lights by Leo Villareal

****Music provided by**** 

Brothers Vanguard, Electriq available on Spotify

Follow John Dufilho (one half of Brothers Vanguard, Electriq & my cousin)

THE ULTIMATE AUTEUR Director and Artist Michaël Dudok de Wit | This is a dreamy chat with the renowned director of Oscar winning short film Father and Daughter and Oscar nom’d The Red Turtle, a collaboration with Studio Ghibli. Michaël creates visual capsules of awe and pathos and wonder, all with (mostly) ink and paper.  A legend.

We talk about his decades of work, gratitude, phenomenon, nature, and what we can all learn from ox herding.

There's so much noise these days, we’re pulled away from things that require time to understand, time to unearth. Things that make life wondrous. These films are a small antidote. 

Watch Michaël’s OSCAR winning short Father and Daughter

Watch Michaël’s OSCAR nom’d short The Monk and the Fish

Watch Michaël’s OSCAR nom’d feature The Red Turtle

Follow Open Studios on Instagram and me, house of k, on Substack

Mentioned on the show

–Studio Ghibli

–The Ox Fable 

–The Work of Art by Adam Moss

–It Was Just An Accident trailer from Jafar Panahi

On December 5, 2025 Bay Area artist Vincent Serritella's life changed forever with the diagnosis of a glioblastoma, a rare and random brain tumor.  As a response, he turned to his art and began painting The Human Infrastructure (Those Who Carried Me), a collection of portraits of the people who supported his recovery - or as Vincent describes them “a living system of care without which recovery would not have been possible.” Vincent’s story weaves resilience with time and technique, and finding unexpected beauty in moments of crisis.

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Follow Vincent Serritella on Instagram

• Learn more about Vincent’s art at  vincentserritella.com
• Information on [eek-wuh-lib-ree-uhm] (Vincent’s painting visible during our video call) can be found here 
• More information on the National Brain Tumor Society here

Music and sound design provided by John Buffalo and Brothers Vanguard, Electriq

Laia Casanovas is the Oscar-nominated Supervising Sound Designer and Editor behind SIRĀT, the daring film from director Oliver Laxe. 

Together with Yasmina Praderas and Amanda Villavieja, Laia and her team made history this year as the first-ever all-female sound crew to snag an Oscar nod. Fresh off an incredible season, Laia joins me to talk about the art of creating sound for a living—and how she’s just getting started.

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Open Studios

Laia Casanovas

Mentioned on the show

• Official trailer for Sirat
• Oliver Laxe Instagram
• Yasmina Praderas Instagram
• Amanda Villavieja Instagram
• Kangding Ray Instagram

Music provided by 

Brothers Vanguard, Electriq