About jonni peppers

I’m Jonni, I’m a filmmaker and animator. I’ve been animating for around 18 years, since I was a little kid. I’m nonbinary and my pronouns are she/her. I’m currently based in Chicago, where I’m getting my MFA in Film at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating in 2025. Since 2020, I’m a fully independent animator, having made over 6 hours of hand drawn animation work, including multiple solo animated features, with more on the way. I’m supported mainly by Patreon and freelance work.

I graduated from CalArts in 2019 from the Film/Video program with a focus on experimental animation. At CalArts, I finished Wasteland, a 80 min anthology feature film of 5 thematically related stories that take place in the same location, concluding with my 45 min thesis film The Final Exit of the Disciples of Ascensia. After I graduated, I independently created a 10 episode miniseries called Secrets and Lies in a Town of Sinners, and a follow up 90 min feature film Barber Westchester, both projects funded entirely from individual monthly donations by my Patreon supporters. Wasteland, Secrets and Lies in a Town of Sinners and Barber Westchester are a part of the same series, The Blindfold, which has 2 more installments currently in production, “Take Off The Blindfold, Adjust Your Eyes, Look In The Mirror, See The Face Of Your Mother”, and the finale “The Cone Layer”.

I started my journey into live action filmmaking in 2022. In 2024, I finished my first live action feature, “Smelling the Dirt and the Coming Rain”, in 2023 I started an ongoing documentary series called “Talent Show”, and have another feature film currently in production as my MFA thesis project, finishing in 2025.

I’ve worked for Frederator Studios, Sony Pictures Animation, Buzzfeed, and FOX/Bento Box Entertainment, among others. Currently, I’m a lead programmer at Slamdance Film Festival for Animation Shorts. I recently started my own film festival, Transfiguration International Film Festival.

In 2022, Ottawa International Animation Festival hosted a retrospective of my work, included me in their official shorts jury, and screened Barber Westchester in their feature competition. The same year, Barber Westchester was featured at New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival in Japan, where it won a special jury award from acclaimed anime director Ayumu Watanabe:

"This movie fully embodies the meaning, power and possibilities of the technique of animation. All the visuals are carefully calculated… Its unique style was derived to strike the times more strongly, and its drawn lines are cute, but are actually frighteningly delicate. With tricky motions, the viewer is skillfully entwined with the story. When the 90 minutes had passed, I shuddered at the matching of theme and method. We felt resolution and conviction for being an animation… It is an out-of-the-ordinary film that captures the mood of this era, which is sharpened by the earnest desire to find answers, while at the same time combining the ingenuity to entertain and the pursuit of originality. The most important discovery of the decade." -Ayumu Watanabe (director: Doraemon, Children of the Sea)

Email: jonni@jonniphillips.com

Note: As of 2023, I changed my name to Jonni Peppers. I formerly went by Jonni Phillips, but I decided to not use that last name anymore for personal reasons.

Note 2: Before September 2024, my work used to be hosted on evil ugly website called “Youtube” where it got thousands of a thing called “views”. Sometimes, even HUNDREDS of thousands, if I was really lucky! Can you believe that? Thanks to everyone who supported my work on Youtube over the years, I appreciate it a lot. It unfortunately was extremely unsustainable for me. I loved showing my work for free in theory, but in practice, it was pretty detrimental to my mental health, was financially irresponsible, and sent the wrong message about how I would like people to engage with it.