Film-maker and animator Joseph Pierce first made his mark in 2008 for his National Film and Television school graduation short, Stand Up, which received both national and international recognition. Since then, his work has spanned film, commercials and theatre, with credits including the National Theatre's hit production War Horse and work for the Met Opera House in New York.

In his most personal works, Pierce's highly distinctive style utilises animation to go behind the many human and social masks, stripping his characters off all pretence to reveal their often very fragile souls. His last completed film, A Family Portrait, was produced through Film London's PULSE scheme for digital shorts, and has collected a host of awards. These include two gongs at the highly regarded Clermont Ferrand festival and a nomination at the prestigious Cartoon D'Or. A Family Portrait continues its festival success and has been selected to screen as part of the 16th Encounters International Film Festival (16-21 November) in Bristol.

A Family Portrait is screening at Encounters Film Festival this week. It's another episode in the film's successful life, which has seen the short picking up top national and international awards. Tell us a bit more about the journey.

Well I guess it was 'previewed' at Encounters last year where it was out-of-competition so it kind of marks a year of promoting, travelling and a lot of trips to the Post Office. We were lucky to get off to a great start with the film, having it screened at Clermont Ferrand in February, which is a pleasure in itself. Then we got the shock of winning two prizes and it sort of snow-balled from there. The other highlights were being flown out to Stuttgart to pick up the Grand prize (which subsequently qualified us for Oscar submission), winning a debut prize in Hiroshima and being nominated for the Cartoon d'Or. I've met some amazing film-makers and visited some lovely places (Lisbon, Ottawa and Barcelona being the top). It is a real honour and testament to the hard work done by everyone.

Your work captures very particular and unsettling universes, in which your characters seem to be in constant tension and where animation is often used to say or represent the untold or taboo. What are your influences and why are you particularly interested in capturing those emotions?

I like to surprise audiences and take them off guard. I think animation is still viewed as a mostly innocuous form, either purely visual or aimed at children. This puts you at an advantage, and apart from something visually striking I want to create an atmosphere that will linger beyond the film. British sensibilities of repression and guilt intrigue me, as does the idea that we all put on masks depending on the situation. I'm influenced by a range of sources, from illustration (Aubrey Beardsley, Hockney) to painting (Frida Kahlo, Paula Rego) or European cinema... I always cite [Dogma film] Thomas Vinterberg's Festen as the film that impacted on me more than any other.  

Rotoscoping, the technique you typically favour, involves drawing your very personal animations on top of real-life footage. How did you arrive at this method and why do you favour it?

Well, I started animation with stop-frame and pixelation (animating inanimate objects), but I ran out of things to do. I wanted to tell stories but can't really draw so well so the technique of drawing over live-action seemed the perfect avenue. Rotoscoping is a bit of the black sheep of animation, some purists even see it as cheating, which is fine - for me it's more important to make an interesting film. Also, I soon discovered that unless you stray from the live-action and give it a unique look, it soon becomes boring. It's not until you put an over-sized tongue on the screen or grow a breast that it becomes interesting. It lent itself to the subjects I wanted to explore and it acts as a way of visualising an internal dialogue. 

Your work to date spans film but also commercials and theatre. In which ways do you adapt, if at all, your creativity and skills to suit each medium?

My background is in theatre and also experimental art, so I've never really been tied to one technique. When you have a potential job you find whatever technique suits it best, rather than coming with a clear idea already. I created some animation for an opera in New York called Dr. Atomic. As it was about the conception of the atomic bomb, the animation appeared as chalk diagrams on a black board. For the National Theatre's War Horse the inspiration for the projection was a page from a soldiers sketch book, so rough drawings and silhouettes appear and animate.

Your next project is called Gap Year UK and it's currently in development with BBC Films. Tell us more about it.

I'm working on a live-action feature script with BBC films, which is a British road trip movie and also developing a new short which will expand on the rotoscoped technique. It's kind of a zoological look at a North London bar, which I'll be starting in the New Year.   

As a London film-maker, what would be your word of advice for anyone in the capital wanting to break into film?

Apply for every scheme going, there's not many and you never know which one you may get (this is what happened with A Family Portrait). Also be nice to people, and good at collaborating - the contacts and friends you make in the industry are invaluable, even as a lonely animator you need a good team around you. And remember, there's always a way, as long as you're passionate.

A Family Portrait will screen at Encounters as a Cartoon D'Or finalist (20 November at Arnolfini) and as part of the Best of British 2 strand (17 and 19 November at Watershed Cinema). Find out more about this year's Encounters International Film Festival.