AWN’s latest survey highlights under-the-radar animated shorts that are currently making their way through the festival circuit — or are newly available for online viewing.
Hey, we’re nearing the end of the month of love - the month in which, for those of us who experience four distinct seasons, hope is kindled as the cold darkness of winter transforms into warmth and light.In this month's , we explore new films dealing with death, duck death, environmental death, dad death, and even the little everyday temporal deaths.
, Stephen Irwin, UK Armed with Irwin’s signature blend of haunting dreamscapes, this snarky poetic meditation on death features a narrator who repeats the same phrases: “dream, murder murder party, death round of applause for death.” Each reading grows increasingly intense before settling into a calm, almost accepting tone toward the inevitable, while also capturing our growing comfort with violence and violent imagery.“The narration is based on something my son said one day,” recalls Irwin, who decided after making (2023), that he wanted to do something more non-narrative.“No idea where it came from, but it appears in the film almost exactly as he said it.
I only changed one word.It was originally 'kidnap, murder, murder party, death, a round of applause for death'.I changed 'kidnap' to 'dream,' partly because I love the repetitive, almost meditative structure of ‘Dream Baby Dream’ by Suicide.
‘Series of Dreams’ by Bob Dylan was also an influence for the same reason.” , bekky O’Neil, Canada This animated documentary, created over the course of seven years, follows O’Neil’s first year working and living on her farm and her unique experience caring for a duck (“the name is my mispronunciation of ‘Sōsuke’ the little boy from ) with special needs.Using digital rotoscoping traced over with inks made from natural sources — flowers, nuts, berries, and vegetables from the same farm — offers a touching, deeply personal exploration of connection, loss, and our relationship with nature.O’Neil began the project as part of her independent study at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD).
“I was interested in the idea of making an animated documentary with indeterminate results, without necessarily knowing the ending through production,” says O’Neil.“My research drew on Ursula K.Le Guin's concept of 'A Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,' which argues for a feminist form of storytelling based on gathering rather than the hero's journey.
I didn't storyboard this film but approached it through writing and editing footage mostly shot on my smartphone.I thought I would be making a charming, feel-good story about my duckling, not the ultimately sad film I ended up building about lessons learned by city kids taking up farming.” , Zharko Ivanov, Macedonia Primarily composed of MRI scans of Ivanov’s late father, this fiery, heart-wrenching visual poem (inspired by a poem by Atso Shopov) rages against death, illness, and loss.As the narrator almost bitterly reminds us, “This is us, this is you, this is me.” There is no escape, no hideout, no distraction that can keep us safe from an inevitable fate that both terrifies and connects us all.
As Ivanov reminds us in the end, “the dead will die with us.” There is something momentarily comforting in the knowledge that the memories of our loved ones will linger and burn inside us throughout our lives — until the moment comes when we become that burning memory for those who follow us.And so on.Says Ivanov, “At its heart, the film is a deeply personal meditation on transience, shaped by the experience of my father’s terminal illness.
During long hospital stays, I pored over countless medical reports, diagnoses, and imaging scans — CTs and MRIs — each revealing the fragile layers of the human body.These so-called ‘virtual slices’ became the foundation for a visual transformation, a means of interpreting Shopov’s poem as a search for the elusive moment of inspiration—the slow kindling of an inner fire, entwined with a long, inevitable farewell.This visual juxtaposes the impermanence of the human body with the enduring essence of the spirit, expressed through poetic metaphor.
It is an exploration of mortality and transcendence, where personal grief converges with artistic expression.” , Karl Lemieux, Canada An audiovisual wonder featuring found imagery and sounds captured during stays in Russia's Murmansk Oblast.Located in the northwestern part of the country, north of the Arctic Circle, the district experiences a harsh, ever-changing climate.The area is also heavily polluted, largely due to a mining and metallurgy company that was forced to shut down in 2021 amid concerns over pollution levels.
Lemieux explains, “It all started when I received an invitation from Sonic Acts, the media art biennale based in Amsterdam, to join an expedition in Russia called Dark Ecology.The idea was to accompany the American philosopher Timothy Morton (who wrote a book of the same name) in reflecting on our relationship with nature in what is known to be one of the most polluted places on Earth.After the expedition, the Swedish composer BJ Nilsen and I stayed an extra week to film and record sound.
The material was originally used for a performance at an opera house called Muziekgebouw, and we eventually made a film with it.” Together with Nilsen and his haunting, lingering, muted atmospheric howl, Lemieux guides us through the eerie, polluted landscapes of Murmansk Oblast, inviting us to contemplate environmental decay.Using a hand-processing technique called Mordançag, Lemieux distorts images of the area, revealing the unseen in a manner reminiscent of a ghost story — except in this case, the ghosts are invisible toxins and pollutants., Yoriko Mizushiri, France/Japan Mizushiri has established herself as animation’s master of sensuality.
is another sensual delight that explores the small moments of touch and sight — the joy found in the ordinary.Whether it’s a hand holding a plastic bag, a sloppily tied shoe, a walking dog’s hind legs, or a sliver of life seen through a blind, each detail resonates with quiet beauty.Hints of a narrative emerge: a woman in a room notices a passing character, a fallen ring, and a floating plastic bag.
Has a loved one died, or is this all taking place within the wandering mind of a woman floating on an inflatable donut in water? Mizushiri’s deliberately calm and reflective pacing offers a momentary respite from a manic world that races by — rarely contemplated, rarely noticed.
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