I directed an animated short film with a team of friends some time ago. It is a Freudian drama about a cuckoo bird killing his brothers to win his mother's exclusive love (you can watch it here). The film was selected for the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (TAAFI) and as the director I got to attend the festival FOR FREE!!! The festival was held at TIFF Lightbox from April 8-12. I got to watch so many cool animated films and shorts and I need to talk about them.
The ranking of the films requires some explanation. While to express one's enjoyment of a film in five starts will always be incomplete and arbitrary, here are what each rating means in my head:
★★★★★ Life changing, unparalleled, god tier impact and beauty.
★★★★☆ Love the film very very much. Will watch one william times and share it with everyone.
★★★☆☆ Great
★★☆☆☆☆ Enjoyable, pretty good, nothing to write home about
★☆☆☆☆☆ Don't hate it, whatever experience.
✷
K-Pop Demon Hunters ★★☆☆☆
This first film I watched in the festival was K-Pop Demon Hunters. I think what everyone has been saying is true. The art direction was top notch, the characters (especially Zoey imo) are super well acted. Not to mention the insanely catchy songs. I couldn't get these dang songs out of my head ever since I saw the movie.
I caught the K-pop Demon hunters behind the scene panel after I saw the film and I learned about how the animators designed and approached timing, as well as the way they seamlessly transition between the regular style and the cartoonist chibi look. It's all very cool and I think every animator ought to check it out!
I do, however, think the story was a bit stupid. I felt that the "accept yourself" story is a tad overdone and I don't feel like the film has much to add to the tropes, resulting in kind of a formulaic and generic story that I don't really feel has much staying power.
✷
Goat ★☆☆☆☆
On day 2 of Taafi, I attended some panels about indie animation and watched Goat at 7pm. The movie was whatever. Much like K-pop Demon Hunters, Goat looks amazing and has fantastic art direction. I especially like how the film take the body mechanics of different animals into account when animating them playing basketball (it's called roarball in the film but whatever...). The quadrupeds play basketball on all fours, the Steph Curry giraffe use his long neck and height to his advantage, etc. It makes the basket ball scenes quite dynamic, interesting and fun to watch.
However, Goat is yet another case of a post-spiderverse Sony film that looks very impressive but has no story to back it up. The main character Will Harris is small and he's the first small animal to break into the basketball league. Despite everyone looking down on him (literally) Will manages not only to find a place in the team but elevate the whole team in some way. I've seen this story one million times; I know his inspiring speech before it's uttered; I know every montage before it happens, and I was quite bored the whole time.
I feel this is even weaker than KPDH because whereas in KPDH I can enjoy the songs, I have very little interest in basketball. It makes for a pretty bland viewing experience for me personally.
✷
Kaleidoscope Kollection
After Goat, I watched a bunch of short films in the film block, Kaleidoscope Kollection. This is a film block for the experimental, unconventional and the uncatagorizable. The following lists the ones I especially enjoy.
A Black and White Story ★★☆☆☆
I really like the look of the film! It is very meticulously done. The cross hatching and the use of comic panels reminds me of the photo realistic rendering in Fun Home. But I find the story of the film to be a bit emo in a high school kind of way. I guess I am not in a place of my life to be finding the story of a man not feeling authentic, finding the world to be fake, and wanting to commit suicide to be especially meaningful. (See trailer here, director's instagram here)
Marc Page and the round goat cheese ★★★★★
I LOVE THIS FILM!!! I was feeling a bit down because I wasn't feeling that enthusiastic about any films I saw thus far. But this film totally make me feel like the trip and the loud environment was worth it! I don't really know what this film is about. I think the main character Marc Page is reliving a memory of losing a wheel of cheese and the sadness and regret therein. I'm not sure. But at the beginning of the film it instructed me to turn my brain off and watch with my heart, so I am not going to worry too much about what the correct interpretation of the film is.
In any case, the film is energetic, exciting, heartfelt, and extremely funny. The design of the characters and the locations are so adorable and fun, and the choice of using very rough watercolour contributes to the absurd, dream-like feel of the story.
This is the highlight of the entire event and I can't wait for it to be posted online so I can see it again! (See trailer here, film instagram here)
Warp and Weft ★★★★☆
I love this film almost as much as the last one! It is a series of interviews set to stop motion animation done on textile art. The interviews address the charm of art forms like embroidery, quilting, and knitting, their relationship to gender, and much more. The visuals are so beautiful and stylish, it exudes love for the medium of textile art. Impressive and moving work! (Director's instagram here)
✷
The Horrors Persist
Day 3 is when my film would be screened, so instead of going to every panel and screening I hung out with the team before heading to the festival together in the evening. My film is in The Horrors Persist film block. Once again, here are the ones I really like.
Luz Diabla ★★★☆☆
This film is about a flamboyantly gay man on his way to a party seeing a mysterious light that led him to crash his car in the Argentinian country side. This film is so suspenseful and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. The approach of Argentinian folk lore through a queer lens is also interesting. Beautifully animated, weird and entertaining short film! (See trailer here, artist's instagram here)
TV Entreaberta ★★★☆☆
If judging the films by creepiness, I think this film is without a question the best in the block. It takes a very simple idea – a girl being trapped in her TV – and manage to keep the horror at a same level for the entire duration of the film. The character animation was also amazing! Especially in a scene where the creepy TV host plays the piano. It was so energetic and unnatural that I was in awe for the whole sequence.
However, the best thing about this film in my opinion is its commitment and fidelity to the old TV aesthetic. I love the frantic editing, the sound design, and the mock advertisements inserted throughout. And I absolutely adore the credits being done in the style of old TV menu screens. Everything works together to make the film so immersive and unique! Fantastic work. (See film instagram here)
Skin Flick ★★★★☆
The hit film from the hit school Gobelins is, to no one's surprise, a hit. The character design and animation is just so expressive, the use of colour is so nice, and the story is entertaining, absurd, and strangely heartwarming. You don't need me to tell you that the celebrated Gobelins film is good, you just need to watch it again. (See film here)
✷
Soy Frankelda ★★★☆☆
Day 4!!! I was supposed to wake up early to see the Mexican stop-mo feature film, Soy Frankelda, at 9:30 am. I was however too sleepy and got to the theatre about 15 minutes late. As a result, I think I didn't understand the whole story very well, nor do I really get what point the film was trying to make (something about truth and/in fiction, creating art as a woman, etc.)
What I will comment on is the absolute beauty and craft in this film. Every puppet and every set in this film is so complex and so intricate. Every shot is full of details and are so stunning. I also like the rough way the characters move. It reminds me of old Christmas movies animation and heightens the childish wonder of this whimsical dream world.
I cannot wait for this film to be released so I can watch this film in full and finally find out what it's trying to say! Before then, I think it's super fun and an amazing technical achievement. I love it!
✷
Generational Gems
After a Cuban sandwich and a cafe con leche for lunch, I headed over to the Generational Gems film block, which includes short films that are for kids as well as adults.
STRIDE & SHINE! ★★★★☆
This is a simple and beautifully vibe-based film about a little blue guys exploring a colourful world. The bright colours, the simple character design and the delightfully expressive and lively animation makes this a memorable and joyful watch. The whole thing reminds me of the animation of Masaaki Yuasa, who is my favourite animation director. Great stuff!!! (See director's instagram here)
Chirp Talker ★★★☆☆
This film is made by a ten year old girl, telling the story of her making an machine to interpret the chirping of birds. I found this film to be so charming! I think the kid has an astonishingly strong and cohesive artistic vision. Watching the film, you don't think that it's "good for something made by a kid." Instead, the childish drawings and the crude animation are paired with genuinely inventive composition and storytelling to support a story precisely about childish musing and day dreaming. It's fun and cute and very very effective. Really goes to show that great art can come from anywhere and anyone.
This film is also cool cause it's about birds in Taipei! (See film here from 19:37)
✷
LAAFI
After Generational Gems I felt exhausted, so I hung out in a quiet area with my friend Somsom (not real name). After having dinner I watched the LAAFI film block, the block for funny haha short films.
Interview with a Dragon ★★★★☆
A mocumentary film about an interview that goes awry when the dragon being interviewed doesn't do any dragon stuff. The interviewer follows the dragon around in his house and found out the dragon's true passion is making yogurt. This film is so funny!!! I love the stupid design of the dragon and the dialogue is so natural and well written. And when the film become about making yogurt and the joy of taking care of something in a seemingly pointless life it's actually weirdly moving. Amazing! (See director's instagram here)
The Murderer ★★★★☆
This film was so fun! It's a stop motion adaptation of a story the director wrote when they were a child. It's about a man who collects dead bodies in his back yard, as well as his arrest, which results in the end of crime forever.
This film operates with such a delightful kid logic and the visuals did such a good job reflecting that. I love that the characters' arms all bend downwards (horse style) in profile view because that's how little kids draw arms; I love how crime is forever solved after the one murderer is jailed; and I love how the story is voiced by the director's little niece and nephews. Great execution of a great idea! (See film here, director's instagram here)
Potion of Wizard ★★★★★
POTION OF WIZARDDDDD!!!!!! This is the film I most look forward to being dropped online because I NEED TO SHOW IT TO EVERYONE!!!
This is a story of a wizard making a potion but missing one ingredient, ear of worm. He follows a sketchy looking cat, who secretly plans to murder him, on a journey to find this ingredient. This film is so packed with jokes and visual gags and is sooo funny from minute one to minute done. Normal things are referred to as "thing of thing" to sound magicy, it's so stupid and I love it. The mixed media in this film also looks so fun and cool. There's hand drawn stuff, there's photos, there's stop-mo, there's puppetry. It make the film look so unique and insane.
I met the creators of the film after the screening and they said the film was made just by the three of them in two years. They have two guys on 2D stuff and one guy on all of the stop-mo stuff. That's crazy. That's insane work. POTION OF WIZARD FOREVERRRRR!!!!!! (See studio's instagram here)
ReRooted ★★★★☆
This film is about a little green guy trying to escape his gruelling assembly line job to be a celebrated animator while the world burns. This film was very loud and fast paced. It is very effective in communicating the insanity and the overwhelming dread of living through the end of the world. I love the collage look, and the style reminds me of UPA animation.
Just a very well made, depressing little film that pokes fun at the absurdity of this crazy and fucked up world of ours. Nice! (See film instagram here)
✷
Death Does Not Exist ★★★☆☆
After LAAFI, I watched the Quebecois feature film Death Does Not Exist. This film follows Hélène on an assassination attempt of an ultra-wealthy old woman with a group of her comrades. During the operation, Hélène freezes and, when all of her comrades are slaughtered, runs away. Hélène is haunted by the ghost of her comrades and reflects on activism, revolutionary violence, and love.
This film is quite contemplative and slow, and because it was 11 o'clock and I was very tired I don't think I fully grasp what the film is trying to do or say. I think it is exploring the tension between the revolutionaries' romantic view of the cleansing quality of revolutionary violence and the ugly reality of killing another person, however much it is deserved. I think it wants to ask whether it is worth it to uproot a comfortable life that is full of injustice and contradiction to pursue a better world and, if yes, what sustains this commitment. It is a very comfortable-leftist-in-the-imperial-core film and as a comfortable leftist in the imperial core myself I find it difficult and thought provoking.
It kinda seems like the film asked many difficult question and then just drop a poem and ends??? But I suppose it is the nature of a film like this that I have to watch it more times and to understand what it's saying to me. As it stands, I find it to be a visually gorgeous and thematically interesting film!
✷
Taafi this year started out a little underwhelming for me but at the end I was so inspired and pumped up about animation!!! It is so cool to be reminded of how much animation can do. And I love to see that beautiful films are still being made all the time despite the animation industry crashing and burning at the moment. I love animation!!!!!! What a cool and versatile medium!!!! Long live animation! Everyone start animating NOW!!!!
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