Animator, teacher, and a member of the Chickasaw Nation, Jesse Cowan has combined his interests and skills to create an animated film called Little Wolf: The Night Trail, the story of a young boy hoping not only to survive the terrors of the wild, but to prove his worth to his mentor and clan totem. Cowan says he drew from his love of early 80’s animation, horror movies, and anime, as well as his studies of Native American myth and the influence of Joseph Campbell to weave a tale of action, adventure, fear and bravery. He goes on to say, “A ton of things inspired me. I set out with a few goals in mind when making this animated short. The first was to tell a coming of age tale. I wanted to animate a boy in the woods hunting monsters. It’s the sort of fare that captures the big kid in me. Learning about Monomyth and Joseph Campbell played a big part in that, because that speaks to the idea of a timeless struggle that would be understood by both our ancestors and our great-grandchildren.” To read the complete interview with AnimationXpress.com, click here. To view Cowan’s film, click here.