Ugly is the New Beautiful
70 min. | Dialogue Language: English
You’ve been lied to all along! Ugliness is glorious, trust us! Who defines what is beautiful? (No really, who? We would like to write that person a polite letter.) Our view of what is and what is not beautiful changes over time. And by the way … A world where all is beautiful … How truly boring would that be?
Always concerned about what others think about your house or apartment? Or do you wish that you partner had a slightly smaller nose? Or do you think your drawings are shitty? Don’t you worry. If you or anything around you feels ugly: perceptions are personal and perceptions change! Who knows … Your “ugly” might be someone else’s “beautiful”. Discover ugliness in all its glory with the works of artists who are playing with perception and colour outside the lines, literally. This is a selection of the prophets a new religion: Ugly is the New Beautiful.
How I Got My Wrinkles
There is something so endearing about seeing the love for film on full display. Especially when it's made by a grandfather and his grandson. Claude, a multi-faceted artist, finally decides to make "his own" film, before he turns 70. On this adventure he is accompanied by Gaston, his 7-year-old grandson.
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Animator Peter Millard has created his own distinctive film language, using the everyday life as an inspiration. When he lived in Montreal, he would often see guys - their faces in shame - going into adult cinemas. Why feel shame? He asked a few people how they would feel about masturbating with other guys or having group sex when other guys are involved. Some of them got very angry and made homophobic comments. So Millard made an animation celebrating sexual curiosity. Just do it! (Also, this is definitely NSFW.)
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Mound
Every bit as weirdly moving as it is unsettling, Mound is a celebration of the moving painting. Dozens of lumpy, ghoulish figures — crudely made mostly of clay, fabric, feathers and other materials — dance, gesture and undergo all sorts of changes to the heart-tugging sound of “It’s Raining Today,” a 1969 recording by Scott Walker. A nightmare with grace, yep, it exists.
The Black Dog's Progress
A tragic mosaic of abuse and violence, The Black Dog's Progress is a comicesque journey through the life of a dag as he is thrown from one unwelcoming owner to the next. Created with a series of flipbooks, it's a film you have to keep your dog away from!
Ugly
Whether cats are beautiful or just downright ugly is entirely up to you. But here, a deformed cat struggles to coexist in a fragmented and broken world, eventually finding a soulmate in a mystical chief. Inspired by the internet story Ugly the Cat, Nikita Diakur's short explores how society neglects everything and everyone who is not on par with modern beauty standards.
Little Cousins
Not all that glitters is gold. In this sarcastic horror story, we meet two little cousins - a beautiful one and an ugly one. And trust us: even an embodied beauty can have the heart of a werewolf.
Unsafe Land
Imagine a world where reason does not exist. At all. In this fascinating universe, a boy is leaving home, going through the city and becoming a part of the annoying atmosphere. Nonsense death cases and pointless situations come, but he just goes on. Does total freedom come at a cost?
Sun: A Non-Camera Film
Polish avant-garde filmmaker Julian Antoniszczak never hesitated to innovate the medium of film. From the 60s, he devoted himself to perfecting the technique of non-camera animation. In this period, the first animagraph-pentagraphs (machines for transferring drawings onto film stock) were created. Sun was the first short film produced with this method. By using the woodcut technique, Antoniszczak impressed drawings directly onto the celluloid, depicting a life cycle by means of an aging face. Is our life beautiful? Mabye it is. Maybe it isn't.
Je Moet Het Zelf Maar (W)eten
All-rounder and 'knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion' Harrie Geelen is a one-of-a-kind artist. In the 70s he frequently made animated commercials. This short was a public service ad for the 'Information office for nutrition' and was based on interviews with normal people and with nutrition experts about the importance of food. Geelen cunningly translated these interviews into drawings.