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La viande + l'amour |
Short Competition 1 of the Ottawa International Animation
Festival boasts a variety of styles and techniques in animated film. Offering
18 shorts from 11 different countries (plus a handful of exciting
international co-productions), Shorts Competition 1 has something for everyone.
Starting things off is Paper Man 2 (Canada, 4:37), which is
an impressive collage piece by David Borish. It's a fun and clever tale of
boots and their toys. (Watch out for Pac Man!) As the only piece of high school
animation in the series, Paper Man
promises good things from the next generation of animation artists.
After the trilogy on the body comes the first bit of
promotional animation in the programme, Melissa (Brazil, 1:00). Directed by
Cesar Cabral, Melissa is an awesome
ad for Post It notes. It's mindboggling to look at the 350 000 sticky notes
that Cabral posted on the storefront of Sao Paolo's Melissa gallery. The film
shows both the usefulness and beauty of the little yellow notes. Who says that
art and commerce are exclusive entities? Following Melissa, Sunny Afternoon (Sweden, 6:50) might
expose the banality of art for art's sake. The crowd roared throughout this
film, but I saw little more than a sunny afternoon that might have best been
spent outside. The next two promotional films, Kinder Chocolate Inventions (UK,
0:30) and Apple (UK, 0:40) are as delightful as Melissa, so they, too, might give future animators some incentive
to go work for Don Draper instead of doodling at home.
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Kali the Little Vampire |
The best stuff in Shorts Competition 1, however, rolls out
around the middle. My favorite animated film from the CFC Worldwide Short Film
Festival (WSFF review here), Kali the Little Vampire (Canada/Portugal/France/Switzerland,
9:25) might hold the title in Ottawa as well. This stunning vampire tale, co-produced
by the National Film Board of Canada, plays just as well on its second viewing,
if not even better. The gorgeous gothic drawings look better than anything else
screened in the computation. Kali
especially eclipsed the other films from a visual perspective since it screened
as a film protection. And lest we forget that wonder full voiceover by Christopher
Plummer, which sounds twice as good when it's enjoyed in the seats of The
Bytowne.
There are three shorts, though, that give Kali a decent run for its money. Pythagasaurus
(UK, 3:52), directed by Peter Peake, might be the best thing that an artist ever
did with math. When two little cavemen (both of whom appear to have a serious
case of fetal alcohol syndrome) find their 'village' threatened by an impending
volcanic eruption, they call on their friend the pythagasaurus to help calculate
the trajectory of the lava. The results are droll and unexpected, and they show
that Darwin was correct in his perception of survival of the fittest. With a
wonky blend of animated math problems and a frenetic approach to numbers, Pythagasaurus is a sure-fire crowd
pleaser.
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Night of the Loving Dead |
Also standing out in the selection with their snappy script
and visuals are Car Crash Opera (USA, 7:45) and Night of the Loving Dead
(UK, 7:00). The latter of the two is especially funny with its tale of a
virginity pact that goes well post the phrase 'til death do us part'.
Delightfully naughty and equally morbid, Night
of the Loving Dead gives well deserved screen time to the much pondered
question of the sex life of zombies. (I know you've all been thinking the same
thing.) With a cheeky knack for bawdy humour (I've never heard of someone doing
that with an umbrella) and a strange,
partly comic/partly gothic color palette, Night
of the Loving Dead is one of the most original films of the bunch. Along
with Kali and the colorful Arias of Car Crash Opera, Night of the Loving Dead shows how the best animated films find a
proper synthesis between narrative, style, and theme. Especially in Kali’s case does the medium work its
greatest magic when the animation serves as a visual equivalent for the films
substance, and not merely as style in itself.
Shorts competition 1
screens again on Saturday, September
22 at 7:00 pm at Empire Theatres Rideau Centre
For information on
the Ottawa International Animation Festival, please visit www.animationfestival.ca.