Help PES Make A Stop-Motion Sandwich Out Of Vintage Sports Gear

The artist behind "Fresh Guacamole" and "Western Spaghetti" is turning to Kickstarter to make the meanest stop-motion sandwich.

by Zach Sokol

July 14, 2014, 9:00pm

Filmmaker PES has made a name for himself over the years with his fantastical stop-motion worlds where mundane objects come to life and mimic other parts from the lifeless world of plastic and metal. Whether he makes nuts and bolts morph into fish, or use grenades in place of avocados, the animator is an expert at manipulating the world with a childlike sense of wonder. Yesterday, the artist launched a Kickstarter for what might be his most ambitious project yet, a movie called Submarine Sandwich that will be his "largest film" to date if it meets its $30,000 goal by August 13th.

Submarine Sandwich is the third installment of his stop-motion cooking series, preceded by Western Spaghetti and Fresh Guacamole (the latter which is the shortest film ever nominated for an Oscar). In his Kickstarter video above, PES explains that he's been planning his upcoming film for three years and it's inspired by a classic New York deli from the 1920s. The plot will involve an epic sandwich being built with the most unlikely of materials, in typical PES fashion.

"The film has been a labor of love that began with a single image: a boxing glove in a deli slicer… knuckles to the blade," he writes. That image inspired a variety of retro sports-turned-retro meat locker ideas, including hockey gloves that look like sausages, footballs taking the role of roast beef, and smelly tube socks from the 70s as provolone cheese. Sounds delicious, no?

PES already has a vintage deli slicer and is beginning to "stock it with tasty morsels from the finest purveyors of meats and cheeses… except my meats and cheeses are vintage sporting equiptment and the purveyors are junk shops, garages sales, and eBay." In the past, PES has funded his work himself, but this project is so large that he needs help funding everything from the lighting to extra props. As he writes in the Kickstarter, this sandwich might be hard to eat, but with the help of fans, it can become a tasty reality.

To donate to the film, visit the crowdfunding campaign here. We're salivating at the idea of hockey puck tomato slices and mustard made from who knows what.

Update: As of July 16th, PES is launching an online class in partnership with online learning community Skillshare called "Short Films: Tell Stories With Stop Motion."

Over 8 online lessons, PES will bring students through his creative process and help them workshop and create their own stop-motion film. walks through his creative process for developing concepts, crafting narratives, capturing film, and editing a final stop-motion piece. You can find more info and watch PES's introduction video to the class here.