Kirby Atkins
- Director
- Writer
- Animation Department
Kirby Atkins is an American writer, director, and actor. His breakthrough feature film was Paramount Pictures' Mosley in 2021 which was nominated for "Best Animated Feature Film" at the Ottawa Animation Festival, the Burbank Film Festival, the Festival of Cinema NYC, and the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Kirby began work on Mosley years before the film was financed, having storyboarded and cut the entire film himself. The finished animatic was impressive enough to motivate the first co-production between the New Zealand Film Commission and China Film Group who co-financed the project. Kirby and his six year old daughter, Leah, provided scratch track for the main characters of Mosley and Rue but the chemistry between them on screen was so genuine that the decision was made to keep both Kirby and Leah in those rolls starring alongside the all Kiwi cast of Rhys Darby (Our Flag Means Death), Lucy Lawless (Xena Warrior Princess), Temuerra Morrison (Star Wars), and John Rhys Davies (Lord of the Rings).
Kirby began work on Mosley years before the film was financed, having storyboarded and cut the entire film himself. The finished animatic was impressive enough to motivate the first co-production between the New Zealand Film Commission and China Film Group who co-financed the project. Kirby and his six year old daughter, Leah, provided scratch track for the main characters of Mosley and Rue but the chemistry between them on screen was so genuine that the decision was made to keep both Kirby and Leah in those rolls starring alongside the all Kiwi cast of Rhys Darby (Our Flag Means Death), Lucy Lawless (Xena Warrior Princess), Temuerra Morrison (Star Wars), and John Rhys Davies (Lord of the Rings).
