22 Facts About Helen Hill

Helen Wingard Hill was an American artist, filmmaker, writer, teacher, and social activist.

Helen Hill's death, coupled with the murder a week before of New Orleans musician Dinerral Shavers, sparked civic outrage.

Helen Hill was a native of Columbia, South Carolina, where she lived until graduating from Dreher High School in 1988.

Helen Hill identified herself as a Southerner and had deep roots in her home city of Columbia.

Helen Hill further developed her artistic work while completing her Masters of Fine Arts degree at California Institute of the Arts.

Helen Hill continued to create films and teach film animation at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and at the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative.

On October 15,2004, Helen Hill gave birth to their son, Francis Pop.

Helen Hill continued to teach animation through the New Orleans Video Access Center as well as the New Orleans Film Collective, which she co-founded.

Helen Hill persuaded her husband to move the family back to New Orleans in August 2006.

Helen Hill continued to make films and engage in grassroots activism, which focused on rebuilding the city and the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood.

Helen Hill was a visiting artist and teacher at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts at the time of her death.

Helen Hill was murdered at approximately 5:30 in the morning on January 4,2007, by an unknown intruder in her home in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood.

Helen Hill's husband was shot three times and survived; their toddler son was uninjured.

Helen Hill's murder was one of a spate of killings in the first week of 2007 in New Orleans, prompting civic outrage that culminated in a march on City Hall on January 11,2007, sometimes referred to as the March for Survival.

In filmmaking technique, Helen Hill took inspiration from animation pioneer Lotte Reiniger's two-dimensional silhouette puppets.

Helen Hill's films incorporate many other techniques, such as stop motion, three-dimensional puppets, cel cycles, and "direction animation".

Helen Hill gave talks at CalArts, the University of South Carolina, and other venues, promoting do-it-yourself techniques for archiving and restoring motion picture film.

Helen Hill's films earned awards and were featured in significant festivals.

Helen Hill used this award to begin production on The Florestine Collection, an animated film inspired by a collection of about 100 hand-sewn dresses she found in a garbage pile in New Orleans in 2001.

Helen Hill was a lifelong peace activist and advocate of several grassroots social justice causes.

Helen Hill was a vegan and an animal rights activist, lending her support to rescue sanctuaries for pot-bellied pigs and other abandoned pets.

Helen Hill co-wrote the anarchist song "Emma Goldman" on their 1999 album Don't Stop the Calypso: Songs of Love and Liberation.