Joan Gratz and Joanna Priestley met at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival in Japan in 1985, where both filmmakers had films in competition.
During the trip, Priestley collected Japanese candy, which struck her as stunningly beautiful and elegant.
The directors sent back 35mm and 16mm film and Paul Driessen sent a stack of drawings on pink paper.
Both Gratz and Priestley were fans of Marv Newland's Anijam, a collaborative film made in 1984, so they chose the title Candyjam.
[5] It was screened in 11 film festivals and was shown retrospective screenings of Joanna Priestley's films including at the Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA), Masters of Animation Festival (Trivandrum, India), American Cinematheque (Los Angeles, USA), REDCAT in Los Angeles in April 2009,[6] Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN, USA), Hollywood Theatre (Portland, OR, USA) on March 10, 2014[7] and the Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival in Baltimore, MD on October 18, 2019.