A short film salute to Canadian animation.
The third and final screening of The Great Canadian Animation Adventure features a buffer of dishes reflecting themes of consumerism (Focus), tourism, surrealism, bizarre Canadian rock bands (Death Van), troubled Canadian filmmakers (Lipsett Diaries), an anti-fascist granny (the Oscar-winning My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts), voyeurism and sexism (The Hat), drunk pigeons (We Drink Too Much) and finally, the meaning of life (Git Gob).
Programme curated by Chris Robinson
What begins in pure abstraction slowly reveals itself to be an evolutionary tale that blends organic materials with the mechanical. Forms struggle to assert and organise themselves within a hostile environment. The joy of animation's possibilities.
The fictitious space-rock duo 'Death Van' tours through a miniature world inhabited by surreal creatures that are haunted and terrorized by a menacing and mischievous entity. This wild short might rock your world.
This short is a bleak, yet engaging ode to Dédé Fortin, frontman and vocalist of the Québecois band Les Colocs. To the sounds of "Dehors novembre", one of the band's songs, animator Patrick Bouchard weaves a haunting tale of death and ruin in the dark of night.
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This film was made for an exhibition in Vienna reflecting on Micheal Snow's animated film A to Z (1956). Here, an endless barrage of old cable tv commercials is cut into pieces and then stitched together, resulting in a satire of late consumer capitalism.
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A 1-minute cart ride through the mental shopping mall of attention deficit disorder (ADD). Inspired by found sound of a shopper's vlog, hand-drawn without a light table, the film lets us feel what it's like to not be able to focus.
Why does the story of Little Red Riding Hood give Jamie nightmares? It's been 15 years, and the girl in the hallway haunts him still. Emotionally overwhelming, Valerie Barnhart's film is a testament to locked doors. Here is a lullaby sung by wolves with duct tape and polaroids. Not all girls make it out of the forest ... And some stories children shouldn't hear.
A simple idea can turn the world on its head ... In this absurd little short two creatures wonder 'What is a hole?' They have different points of view. Their debate leads to an idea, an idea that changes the world.
The official music video for "House on Fire", a track by Canadian indie-rock band Plants and Animals. A chaotic mess of household objects - a fork, a teapot, a chair, a ghost - filtered through a hypnotic, vintage vibe. The house is falling apart at the seams, leaking into the garden, the sea the sky.
Made using the technique of pinscreen animation, Jim Zipper is a musical exploration inspired by various pictorial movements of the first half of the 20th century.
Capturing a descent into depression and madness, this short is a portrait of the anguish that tormented Arthur Lipsett, a famed Canadian experimental filmmaker who died at the age of 49. It's an intoxicating diary of images and sounds, charting a prodigious frenzy of creation. A mad genius indeed.
Before winning an Oscar for The Danish Poet, filmmaker Torill Kove was an Academy Award-nominee with this animated gem. It's a tall tale about her grandmother's life in Oslo during World War II. Sharp and whimsical, her story combines her grandmother's tales with historical events and fantasy, showing how a cherished anecdote van come to acquire a mythical status. King Harald of Norway said: "I love the irony of this short."
Trailer for OIAF 2022 made by Winston Hacking.
The Hat is arguably Cournoyer most recognized short. Here, a young woman works as an exotic dancer in a bar. She recalls an incident from her childhood in which she was physically abused by a male visitor. This inner journey brings back painful memories, including the obsessive image of a hat. Black-ink drawings, spare and rapidly executed, flow together in a succession of troubling and striking metamorphoses. With naked honesty, animator Michèle Cournoyer invites the audience to share in the pain of a woman whose body is on display and whose soul is forever soiled.
Just another chill, transient day at the beach ... Animator Malcolm Sutherland lovingly pokes fun at the sort of timeless life of the beach tourist.
In this black-and-white short two pigeons realise they spent too much while earning too little.
"I met you, only met you, in the street, in the subway, or I saw you, only saw you in a programme on TV, in the newspapers, I read the story of your life, I saw photos of you, I saw you passing by, only passing by, but I couldn't forget your eyes, they said to me: Little brother, little sister, you look like me."
Kaboom Animation Festival is the one-stop-shop for the latest and greatest in all things animated. Ranging from cutting-edge experimental arthouse to colorful stories for families and kids, Kaboom will cater to the animation needs of all. Yes, even yours, my amazing weirdo friend!
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