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Joan Ashworth is a director and designer of animated films. She has worked in the industry for 20
years, specialising in puppet animation during that time and more recently in digital 3d. Currently,
she is Head of the Animation Department at London's Royal College of Art.

How Mermaids Breed is
Ashworth's most recent film,
completed in November 2002.

Mermaids are known to have
a sexuality so powerful that it
is a danger to shipping, yet,
till now, their reproductive
cycle has been a mystery. At
last this 10 minute film shows
us the answer.

The Web was completed in 1987 after 4 years
of study and production. It is an extraordinary
achievement in stop-frame puppet animation.

It is 18 minutes of dark gothic psycho-thriller
based on a section of Mervyn Peake's
Gormenghast trilogy. Three people are trapped
by their own rituals and inter-dependance in a
crumbling edifice. The Earl, guarded by Flay and
fed by Swelter, dreams of escaping. Meanwhile,
his servants plot to destroy each other.

The film was shot on 35mm film at the National
Film & TV School.