Hand Held is an animated film about the nature of oppression and community spirit. The animation, made with ink, watercolor and pastels on index cards has been shot while being held in real people’s hands. The community of hands that surrounds the artwork includes people of all ages and races, prosthetic hands and animal paws. The soundtrack for HAND HELD was performed by the acclaimed acappella quartet: The Bobs, Joe Finetti, Richard Greene, Janie Scott and Matthew Stull. Five pictographic figures (representing the world’s races), carve a rock into the shape of a huge hand. The hand comes to life and begins to chase and intimidate and them. The harassment escalates, with the hand forcing them to ‘toe the line’ and do acrobatic tricks. The stick figures rebel, but the hand counters with a series of placating maneuvers: entertaining them with televison and giving each of them a credit card. They buy a mountain of commodities, which slowly dissolves into the huge, grey hand. In desperation, the stick figures band together and take a vote. United, they illuminate their own hands and set alight the giant hand. They are thrilled as it disappears into a pile of ashes, but soon become bored. They carve a new, beneficent, golden hand and are cautious around it until they realize that they have created exactly what they wanted . They climb onto the palm and fly into the future. Festivals Awards: Marin County Film Festival: First Prize, Northwest Film and Video Festival: First Prize, Black Maria Film Festival: Director’s Citation, Humbolt Film Festival: Honorable Mention, Stuttgart International Animation Festival, Leipzig International Film Festival, Schorndorf International Cartoon Festival, Medicine Wheel Animation Festival: Honorable Mention.