What’s on: October 21st — Pens, ink, and CGI. Oh my!
International animations provide mix of styles, stories, and emotions
Still: Escape Velocity
Jason Pchajek, staff writer
Art comes to life on day 3 of the 2020 UWPG Film festival, with the Animated Shorts Program. Animators and visual artists from around the world have come together, producing films that will concern, delight, confound, and leave you entranced.
Applesauce – Austria
“While two birds talk about their existence, a small apple makes its way into the depths of a cave under watchful eyes.”
The evening’s events start off with a deep movie, exploring existence and the existential drive to find meaning in life. The art on display is exquisite in this Austrian piece, which is nominated for Best International Animated Short, evoking memories of Shel Silverstein and Advard Munch, and the message is perfect for a world which has left us all confronting our own mortality.
A deep film to start a fantastic night at the festival.
All You Can Eat – United Kingdom
“A tribe of cartoons are being taken by force from their natural habitat, only to fulfill the voracious intentions of humans.”
Tough conversations continue with the second film of the evening, where we are confronted by the horrors of the modern meat industry. Colour and art style are used to perfect effect, as director Dimitris Armenakis juxtaposes the colourful fluidity of the natural world with the cold, sharp, colourless manmade one.
This film will leave you unsettled, but there’s no better way to start the evening with another nominee for Best International Animated Short.
ETERNITY – South Korea
“The story follows a point of view of satellite that observes a human eternity closely. Human beings experience very similar things repeatedly in life.”
After some deep and contemplative films, we turn to the experimental, with Yeaeun Jang’s ETERNITY. Taking the expression ‘time is a flat circle’ this film delves into the universality of human experience, and how the arcs of life and social development tend toward the same themes.
Not the longest animated piece of the evening, but will certainly make you think.
Snail – Portugal
“A child draws a snail in the sand. The imminence of violence reminds her that it would be better, to be a snail and be able to take your home wherever she went.”
Sticking with the experimental, we have Snail. Using recordings of her own father – who passed away in 2018 – Cybelle Mendes has created a short, but moving animation. Utilizing rotoscoping and digital animation, she captures the need for safety in the face of danger, and the void left over when we no longer have a place to call home.
Companion – United Kingdom
“Companion is a short stop-motion film that expresses the friendship between a dog and a human. The story follows a dog’s life and the interactions he has with his owner and other animals along the way.”
From digital and hand drawn animation, with Companion we come into the realm of stop motion. Another nominee for Best International Animated Short, Jack Walton and Joe Helliwell have combined for a wonderful film which will touch any dog owner. The animation is fluid and the models exquisitely detailed – no matter how little screen time some of the characters get – and it will surely be many viewers’ favourite of the evening.
New Harvest – India
“This is a film about harvesting crops based on a folk song of rural village of Bengal in India. Farmers usually sing this type of song during their work on field. Here we can see farmers are cutting the crops with the rhythm of the song and taking it to their village. The last part portrays the difficulties and the challenges which farmers are facing now these days and the misery of their life.”
One of the few music videos at the 2020 festival, New Harvest is a delight for the senses, with beautiful music to accompany the wonderful animation. Before things get scary on day three of the festival, let’s all sit for a while and enjoy this great work of art from India.
Arachnarche – United Kingdom
“A doll faces her fears when a spider invades her dollhouse. However, something far more terrifying lies beneath the surface.”
Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
It’s a testament to Emma Jordan that her film creates such a visceral reaction each and every time you watch it. Perhaps it’s the tactile nature of the stop-motion animation, and the weight and reality the models bring to the frame. Or the exploration of nightmares and insecurity many of us felt at night as children.
Ok it’s probably the spider.
With shades of Coraline this piece is a must-watch, despite being very unsettling.
Mr. Eichmann and the Maverick Goat – United Kingdom
“Mr. Eichmann and the Maverick Goat is about an obedient workman and a rebellious goat. This short film was inspired by the Stanley Milgram experiment and explores if Mr. Eichmann would follow an inhuman order when pressured by a higher authority. The film is allegorical with a subtext challenging the compliance of the proletariat with authoritarian regimes.”
Yeah…I don’t even know what to say here.
Ok maybe I do. The logline perfectly explains the theme, evoking 1984 with every frame, and a quirky reference to the North Korean regime, but what it doesn’t explain is what this film is visually. The animation and design are masterful but…just watch it and get back to me.
This film is awesome.
Japanese Tercet – Russia
“This animated short is an adaptation of beautiful and quite unknown Japanese haiku. We believe that we managed to convey subtle images and feelings of this poetry via language of animation.”
In Japanese culture, there is the concept of ‘kintsugi,’ which is a deeply therapeutic and metaphoric exercise. It is the practice of repairing pottery with gold, and for anyone who themselves has been broken before, the meaning behind that is beautiful. Nothing is ever broken, not permanently, and instead of throwing away the broken thing, we make it even more beautiful along the lines where it has cracked.
This Russian film by Dmitrii Viktorov is sublime. Short but perfect.
little birds can remember – Israel
“A meditative journey of two girls from a valley to a mountain. Nature, small moments, and water. Inspired by Japanese ink wash paintings and woodblock prints.”
With a, ink wash animation style, this film is visually magnificent. That alone should get you to watch it, but if not, the story sure deserves your attention. Quiet and contemplative, this film is simply exquisite, and provides the perfect buffer to what comes next tonight at the UWPG Film Festival.
Best Hair – Colombia
“A little monster decides to give Satan a haircut.”
Ok, so if that logline alone doesn’t get you interested in this film, I don’t know what to tell you.
It feels like the setup to some show on Adult Swim, and the art style fits that bill as well. A distinct visual aesthetic that would feel right at home in a metal music video, or on an album cover, Margarita Nieva Santacruz has put together something wonderful.
Corpseland – France
“Corpseland is an amusement park that has been used for the purpose of teaching and indoctrinating children to grow up as adults to serve a dysfunctional, polluted and twisted society.”
Unlike what came before, Corpseland doesn’t take a strange concept and make it funny, it takes it incredibly seriously, creating an experience that packs a powerful punch. Director and animator Yang Liu makes a biting criticism of modern society, and the way it shapes each and every one of us to fit its sick and twisted needs.
This film will leave you stunned, uncomfortable, haunted, yet mystified. Liu has certainly earned her nomination for Best International Animated Film.
Escape Velocity – Hungary
“An astronaut awakens in an abandoned cave of a strange planet. An interstellar vagabond, so to say. A light path leads him to the surface, where he looks at his compass and heads for his spaceship. He keeps glancing back, treading nervously, looking afraid. He has been chased by a creature for a long time, and his only way to break free is to escape this curious planet.”
A massive talent from a small European nation, Tamás Rebák has produced an intricately crafted project. The design of the alien world, the characters, creatures, sounds, score, and animation are all on point. This feels like a slice of a Cartoon Network show, or a feature length film. One of the longest animations of the evening – clocking in at just under eight minutes – there is not a frame that doesn’t ooze talent.
Aging – United States
“A daughter goes back to see her father...”
You can tell that director Jingqi Zhang is going places. This film is short, but so impactful. Exploring memory, childhood, and how age changes the way we see our parents, Aging will leave many viewers in tears. The animation and sound design alone, with how Zhang plays with light to create dreamlike visuals and snappy audio that will rattle your bones, makes this a must-watch, but combined with the story makes this a strong candidate for Best International Animated Film.
Mask Out – Mexico
“Upon entering the forest, Mila stumbles upon a hole that contains three masks and a note that says: Your decision, who to be?”
Another foray into stop-motion, another home run of a film. Delving into issues of identity and choice, Mask Out is going to be a favourite for many at the festival. Cecilia Cortes has outdone herself here, and proves that more attention needs to be paid to Mexican animation.
The Tower – Croatia
“As years and years go by, a tiny civilization makes its way upwards.”
The animation style evokes classic art mixed with collage, but the point it makes transcends time. Civilization is a never ending climb to the top, but no matter who gets to the top of the mountain, there’s always another peak. Great empires will always fall, the new will replace the old, and adapting is awfully hard when you’ve reached the top. But the tower just keeps rising.
The Box Assassin – United States
“A pizza delivery boy finds himself in the middle of a clash between a gangster boss and a legendary assassin who the boy has unknowingly delivered instead of pizza.”
A heavy-hitter to close out the evening of animation. Jeremy Schaefer has produced something that feels like the trailer to the next big Pixar production – if Pixar suddenly decided to produce animated Deadpool movies. The animation and design are brilliant, the acting superb, and the whole thing smacks of an animator hitting way above their weight class, but succeeding anyways.
Watch out world, The Box Assassin is here.