05.09 | 20:00
18+
Isn't art anyway often a kind of a playground, and specially animated films? How do specifically contemporary animated films relate to reality? These were questions, when I selected films from our international ANIMATION AVANTGARDE competition program of the VIENNA SHORTS Filmfestival 2023, which I had curated together with Louise Linsenbolz.
Here are some short answers:
The Final Nail In The Coffin by Conor Kehelly is a classical example for the playfulness of cartoon movies, full of coincidences, hurt gags and unexpected twists – only animation artists can invent this kind of narration. A bit closer to reality are films about the 'virtual reality' of computer games or social media: While Liisi Grünberg's fresh and colorful Miisufy shows, how you can literally get lost in a game world, A kind of testament of Stephen Vuillemin at least starts with a possible setting: the misuse of private selfies by an unknown person, but the story then develops into a surreal nightmare, and also includes sarcastic humor. De Imperio by Alessandro Novelli talks about the (real) world order in a metaphoric way, when he proposes that we tiny humans should unify and stand up against the 'giants', who are misusing us on their playground. Abruptly Laid to Rest, the Graduate Thesis of MacKenzie Champlin at the Southern California Institute of Architecture is a game-engine driven animated film depicting the utopia of the time, when radical global activism has managed to put an end to fossil fuels. Let's hope that both playful visions turn into reality soon. Much closer to the reality is Ulu Braun's video collage Pacific Vein, a painterly panorama of the US West, in which quotes from celebrities collide with insights into the lives of “normal people” against the backdrop of our damaged planet.
Thomas Renoldner.
The screening is supported by OeAD-Kooperationsbüro Lwiw and Ukraine Office Austria.
Running time 72 min.
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Ireland | 09:50 | 2023
A mother and son are stuck. A father is obsessing over a plank of wood in his living room. A businessman is looking for a lost hammer.
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Estonia | 10:25 | 2023
Digital pet cat Miisu gets tired of her owner and starts to revolt. Inspired by Tamagotchi, Miisufy observes the world through the eyes of digital pets.
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France | 16:00 | 2023
A young woman comes across animations on the Internet that have clearly been created from her private selfies. A stranger with the same name confesses to identity theft. But death is quicker than the answer to the question: “Why?”
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Portugal, Spain | 13:15 | 2023
During a peaceful night, a group of fugitives tries to find its way to the center of the building, where the entire resistance is gathering. Evading the surveillance, they go through the rooms of the Giants and witness their macabre routines.
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USA | 09:40 | 2023
In a future where radical activism has forced a sudden end to oil production, we face our long-coming reckoning with fossil fuels and discover a new relationship with our environment. Guided by a tender narrator, we journey across five territories once controlled by the petroleum industry, now reclaimed as part of a new funeral tradition.
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Germany | 11:58 | 2024
The endless tracking shot through a picturesque US panorama allows the American Dream to slide into ghostly auto-suggestion while Assange and Bezos ponder life.