Animator brings movie to life in Sisters

Animator Morgan Hay will be attending a special screening of "The Boxtrolls" at Sisters Movie House, Saturday, September 27, at 2:30 p.m.

He will bring some of the puppets from the film and share how stop motion animation works. Hay is Rapid Prototyping Performance Lead at Laika Animation Studios in Hillsboro. He is the son of Mac and Jan Hay of Sisters.

Hay has worked on six feature-length stop-motion films, including all of Laika's past and yet-to-be-released feature-length projects. Also on his résumé are a numerous collection of commercials, music videos, and dream sequences, including an Emmy Award for Outstanding Title Design.

Hay studied experimental animation at CalArts, and then moved to Los Angeles, working his way up through the Art Dept. shop, building sets, props, and puppets.

In the movie, the Boxtrolls have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy named Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead-Wright) in the cavernous home they've built beneath the streets of Cheesebridge. When the town's villain, Archibald Snatcher (Academy Award-winner Ben Kingsley), comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls, Eggs decides to venture above ground, "into the light," where he meets and teams up with the fabulously feisty Winnie (Elle Fanning). Together, these soft-boiled detectives uncover the hidden connections in Eggs' past and devise a daring plan to save his unique family. 

The film is rated PG.