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"Goodness is the Ability to Own One´s Mistakes and Shortcomings" - Interview with Joel Orloff
June 18, 2025
By Bessy ADUT
Joel Orloff is an animator who lives in Providence, Rhode Island. He has led animation teams for a number of award-winning documentary projects, including Oren Rudavsky's film, Pam Hogan’s film, and American Masters', among others. He won the Best Music Video award for Pink Floyd’s "Breathe" in their 50th Anniversary Music Video Contest. His work is currently on extended loan at the Newport Art Museum. He is a recipient of an artist development grant from the Brown Arts Institute and was a member of their 2021 Cohort. He currently teaches in the Film/Animation/Video department at the Rhode Island School of Design.
What are your current projects?
I am currently working on animation for an upcoming documentary about the 1873 Colfax Massacre, and a series of music videos for the electronic musician Chakram.
Please share how you started and got to where you are today...
I have always been an obsessive drawer, basically since I was old enough to hold a marker. I was an only child, and therefore needed to find ways to entertain myself. Relatively early on in my childhood, I began experimenting with animation in Macromedia Flash. My journey to professional animation was circuitous: I was working on a comic book adaptation of Kafka’s “The Castle” after college, and I met Oren Rudavsky at an event in New York City and showed him some pages from it. This led to my first collaboration with him as well as my first professional animation work: his film “Witness Theater”.
Has it been a smooth road?
In many ways, shockingly, yes. I have been incredibly lucky to continue finding exciting jobs and opportunities via word of mouth and other directors who see my work in theaters or on TV.
Could you tell us more about your life and career?
I have a lovely quiet life in Providence, RI, where I live with my dog, Layla. In addition to freelancing, I work as an adjunct animation teacher at the Rhode Island School of Design, which is a treasured part of my practice. I love the selfless energy that teaching asks of me, and I feel constantly invigorated by the work and excitement of young artists. It is also really important to me to get out of my studio, where I work mostly alone, and into a space with other people in the classroom.
What do you think goodness is?
Big question. I’m not sure I know. I think it has to do with gentleness, with being awake and alive to the experiences of those around you, and with an ability to own one’s mistakes and shortcomings.
Who are you outside of your professional life?
I love to ride my bike, to spend time in the wilderness, to read books, and to watch movies.
Are you interested in environmental issues?
Yes, deeply. I am heartbroken by the short-sighted nature of our relationship to the natural world, and by capitalism’s suicidally consumptive drive.
Do you think the world is not a good place right now?
I don’t know. I’m not sure the world has ever been a better place. It seems like cruelty, violence, and oppression have always been a part of humankind, and indeed, a part of life as it exists on this planet (although, of course, cruelty is maybe not a word that is applicable to non-human entities). I hope that humanity is slowly and stumblingly moving out of our teenage years into an adulthood of our species in which we rise above the nastier parts of our animal inheritance, while also integrating ourselves more sustainably with the world around us. Can we do this? I’m unsure. But in some ways, it seems like we’re closer to that possibility than we’ve ever been, or at least no further from it.
How do you make the world a better place?
I hope I do, but I’m not always sure. If I do, it’s in very small, local ways. I try to live more or less intentionally, and to engage with the people and animals around me with love and curiosity.
How can we all make the world better?
I wish I knew that! Maybe if truly everyone tried to be good in small ways to the people who their lives touch, the world would change for the better. But at the same time, maybe that’s impossible, or maybe our globalized world means that our cruelties are too divorced from our day-to-day lives to live truly kindly in small ways.
How can science and spirituality coexist?
I think it’s a false dichotomy. Even if we could explain the whole universe down to the last atom, spirituality is about how it feels to live in the universe. Knowing that love is the result of complex chemical reactions doesn’t mean that it’s less real or less beautiful. It’s just a description of our experience of those phenomena in terms that apply to our humanity.
If you could go anywhere, where would you go (and why)?
I’ve really wanted to visit Mexico City ever since I read Roberto Bolaño’s novel “The Savage Detectives”.
Please provide shareable links (website, social media)...
Website: joelorloff.com
Instagram: @melting.dog
Please provide media links to share...
Music video for Pink Floyd’s “Breathe”: https://youtu.be/WVtpgoBFogk
Short film, “Pilgrim”: https://vimeo.com/619424680
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