Annecy 2013: Films in Competition 4
The selection of films this year has on the whole been met with bemusement. Whilst almost everyone I have spoken to has not outright damned every single film in competition (there have been some marvellous ones here and there) the gaps between poor and excellent have been quite large. That being said it would seem that this selection of shorts demonstrates that the shorts in competition has a lot more to offer as the films on offer are all well rounded. Overall as a collection I would rate this one as the highest so far (one more left) but it is not about the collection, lets take a look at the individual films on offer in competition.
The Big Beast
Pierre-Luc Granjon – France
Grey cut out characters talk of a beast that only eats people when people do not think of said monster challenging the residents of a small town to always think of the creature. As this clever film progresses the message becomes clearer as the townsfolk create their own monster.
Gloria Victoria
Theodore Ushev – Canada
There are few abstract animations that can create in the eye of the audience what the director wishes to feel. Marrying a plethora of stylistic representations with the perfect soundtrack Gloria Victoria manages to display the forces of the 20th century with such passion.
The Wound
Anna Budanova – Russia
A bullied elderly lady reminisces the evolution of her self created tormentor. She is followed by a Grinch style scribbly monster that feeds on her anguish and grows from mouse sized to monster sized. Becoming a more dominating figure in her life. The style used in the film works really well with the subject matter although the ending is a little abrupt.
Palmipedarium
Jeremy Clapin – France
A young boy takes the journey from boy to man via an encounter with a weird duck like creature. Bold and simple CG and a clear storytelling technique support this excellent short.
Boles
Spela Cadez – Slovenia
AT LONG LAST A FULL STOP MOTION SHORT! Ahem excuse me…
A writer has difficulty composing his latest work and is pestered by an intrusive neighbour. Elaborate dream sequences which drift between his reality and imagination show he may have been more creative than he thought. An excellent demonstration of the medium.
Autour du lac
Carl Roosens, Noemie Marsily – Belgium
A journey around a lake, meeting a few characters and going on a weird journey around the body of water populated by a cast of colouring crayon inspired characters. Loud both audibly and visually.
Yuki Onna/Snow Woman
Juru Barta – Czech Republic, Japan
Quite a well structured linear storyline about a man holding a dark secret from his wife, when he tells her of the story of his encounter with death he finds deaths promise coming to back to haunt him. The story may have been more striking than the animation in this piece although it demonstrated a well composited use of pixilation and mixed media.
Triangle Affair
Andres Tenusaar – Estonia
Some of the worlds created in animation are just plain weird. Here we inhabit a stop motion one where the individuals have hands where their heads wouldn’t have been. An extremely well choreographed dance routines are acted out in this one although the storyline takes a long while to kick in and the ending arrives rather unsatisfyingly although it could have been the ending for an entirely different film.
Why? Factor
Ben Falk, Jordan Wood – UK
A weak Monty Python sketch is given the stop motion treatment in this short that delivers what plasticine stop motion has been missing for a while, fingerprints, smudges and well realised animation add extra charm to a half arsed Python quip.