These short animated documentaries don't mess around: real stories, real subjects, real emotions.
Short Docs does not refer to small doctors (it would be cool, though!), but to short documentaries, an often-neglected genre in the film industry. Yet, animation can help bring real stories to life and to deal with traumas, memories, difficult themes and so on. These short animated documentaries don’t mess around: real stories, real subjects, real emotions.
Beep Beep is an animated journal based on phone conversations the director had with her parents, without them knowing she was recording them. Documented in a lighthearted way, the film is a representation of the relationship Mihaela Mindru has with her parents while being far away from home for the first time.
Football is the most important of the least important things in the world. But, still it's hard for girls to live in this male-dominated sport. What is it like to be a girl in a boy's world? Six girls share their own experiences play woman's football. Their stories are translated by different animation techniques to explore various narrative possibilities.
The story of the sweetest hijacking ever and the real drunk history of a Norwegian flight on June 21, 1985. What happened on this flight seems unbelievable, but trust us: it's all quite true! An intoxicated man spontaneously hijacks a plane. But of course, seizing an aircraft is a tiring chore, so he guzzles a beer. And another. Then a few more. Needless to say, nothing goes his way...
What do you have to do to get your father's attention?! Drawn from personal experience, the beautiful yet painful short film shows a reckless boy seeking attention of his father, a photographer. Being confronted with his father's artistic chaos and his obsessive fascination for photography-life, on his way of growing up these elements eventually become essential for strengthening their father-son bond. Using a combination of hand-drawn and stop-motion animation in the collage technique, the filmmaker takes you on a ride through much more than just a personal experience.
A deeply personal and insightful tale about the female experience in (historical) Taiwan, Wu-Ching Chang's short is a tribute to his grandmother who, as a T'ung-yang-hsi, was sold as a young girl to another family to be raise as a future daughter-in-law. Trying to be true to the historical context, the narration is based on interviews with the director's grandmother's children, and research in feminism. With a variety of animation techniques, including egg yolk as paint, the film aims to reflect on a past in order to fight for a better future. As the metaphor of women, the eggs are the symbolization of the productive roles in a male-dominated society. Eggs are fragile, but at the same time tough. Wu-Ching Chang's grandmother is an egg.
On the Surface is a touching narration by Fan Sissoko - a French-Malian artist and filmmaker based in Reykjavik - about being an immigrant, a Black woman and a mother. With textured brush strokes, the film portrays Ada, a young black woman who goes swimming in the Icelandic sea as she reflects on her experience of raising a child in a country that feels nothing like home. She enters the freezing water and relives her traumatic pregnancy and postnatal depression. But nature has always proven to be healing.
Never stop resisting the forces of repression. This film is a traumatic memory, a testimony, and a radical protest. Mutated bodies come into the frame as an alien power tries to subdue them. But resistance is on the rise. Cinema as a haunting scream that disrupts everything the cycle of oppression.
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Perhaps the first ever animation film of its kind in the Malayalam language, Seen It! takes you on a spooky tour of some local Indian spirits, guided by the ever-vibrant Mr. Panicker who has several shockers up his sleeve. With its cartoony style and the look of black-and-white graphic novel, the film paints a quirky picture of the supernatural encounters of its narrator.
Some people are different. Some humans are born with a set of variable characteristics, which they call Down syndrome. A flying saucer, dinosaurs and storks help us try to understand what it is and what the difference is between having it or not. With its cut-out collage style, newspaper texture and quick pace, this short is way more than just a (personal) history lesson.
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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