“As a child my mother would take my brother and me to a marionette theater on Barrow Street in Greenwich Village on special occasions. We spent most birthdays and holidays seeing the Bil Baird marionettes perform original plays and classics - and like most children I was in absolute awe. However, unlike most children, the eerie, floating disembodied figures haunted my every waking thought and I was smitten.
And so I began collecting marionettes by the English puppet company Pelham and began making my own marionettes at around age six. Eventually I became distracted by music but at around age thirty, I felt compelled to start carving and animating the tiny figures again. I did this in secret for ten years before Jessica finally outed me as a closet puppet maker.
Why my mother ever took us to see this archaic theater, I’ll never know, but I am eternally grateful.”
**Official Selection 2013 Jim Henson Foundation 'Puppets On Film' Festival, New York
**Official Selection 2013 Nitehawk Shorts Festival, Williamsburg, New York
Phantom Limb Company, New York City-based, is known for its work with marionette-puppetry and focus on collaborative, multi-media theatrical production and design. Co-founded in 2007 by installation artist, painter and set designer Jessica Grindstaff and composer and puppet maker Erik Sanko, Phantom Limb has been lauded for its unconventional approach to this venerable format. Phantom Limb includes a large rotating cast of friends, collaborators, artists, dancers and puppeteers.
http://phantomlimbcompany.com
A film by Christopher Sturman & Graeme Maclean
Produced by Amy Lipkin
Shot & Edited by Jett Cain
Featuring Erik Sanko & his puppets
