Mackinnon & Saunders and Nihil Declarandum have just announced Heads, an 80-minute stop-motion animated feature now in development in Greater Manchester, UK, with a projected delivery date of 2029.

The fantasy adventure horror drama is set in a retro-futuristic world where severed human heads can live independently from their bodies. A corporation has convinced the poor to sell their heads to enrich the wealthy, creating a grotesque society built on inequality and self-sacrifice. The story follows two disparate women bound by an uncanny connection as they fight to reclaim their bodily autonomy.

The film marks the first animated feature co-production for Mackinnon & Saunders, the famous Manchester-based animation company known for stop-motion puppet design and fabrication, character development, animation production, and digital 2D animation.

Blending gothic fantasy, social satire, and emotionally driven storytelling, Heads is being developed for teen and adult audiences and will be brought to life through handcrafted animation and practical effects.

Heads draws heavily on Manchester’s industrial heritage and history of innovation, making the region a central part of the film’s development and production. Created and written in the North West, the project is projected to generate approximately 120 jobs, with more than half expected to be filled by local talent.

All stages of production will be based in Greater Manchester, with regional studios, suppliers, craftspeople, and freelance creatives engaged throughout the process. Reflecting the film’s fictional Manchester setting, the filmmakers are seeking regionally authentic voices to cast in the lead roles.

Tiffany Kimmel, founder of Nihil Declarandum, serves as writer-director; Chris Alsop as writer-illustrator; Simon Quinn, Mackinnon & Saunders’ Chris Bowden, and Martina Silcock as producers; Tristan Oliver as cinematographer; Francesco Corvino as storyworld designer; Charles Pieper as co-writer; and Greg Ansin as executive producer.

“Dark fantasy has always given us a way to explore and understand the world by imagining it as something stranger,” Kimmel said. “With Heads, we are building a stop-motion universe that is gothic, satirical, absurd yet emotionally grounded. This is a story for teens and adults that explores bodily autonomy and inequality through a lens that is as unsettling as it is wondrous. We are creating the kind of animated feature film that audiences carry with them for years: visually distinctive, evocative, and unapologetically original.”

“Collaboration with creators sits at the heart of everything we do, and we are thrilled to be partnering with the team at Nihil Declarandum to bring the unsettling yet darkly beautiful world of Heads to life,” said Ian Mackinnon, founder and managing director of Mackinnon & Saunders.

Mackinnon & Saunders has more than 30 years of experience in stop-motion and digital 2D animation for film, television, and advertising. The studio’s feature-film work includes puppets and character work for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, and Fantastic Mr. Fox, along with recent production work on Wednesday, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and Netflix’s anthology The House.

Across television, Mackinnon & Saunders has delivered more than 500 episodes, with credits including Mixmups, The Sound Collector, Boosnoo, Postman Pat, Bob the Builder, Fifi and the Flowertots, Twirlywoos, Moon and Me, Raa Raa the Noisy Lion, and Stan Can.

Nihil Declarandum, founded by Kimmel and based in the US and UK, develops film, television, and live-event projects spanning live-action and animation. The company focuses on artist-driven commercial and arthouse work, with a particular specialization in dark fantasy stories for adult audiences told through stop-motion animation and puppetry.

Source: Mackinnon & Saunders