(44) Short Film Sunday #29: A Day in the Lives of Sisyphus and Ivan (2012)

A Day in the Lives of Sisyphus and Ivan (2012).

Good evening, my dear readers, it is nice to write to you again. It has been a while, so Short Film Sunday is back, for today, who knows what will happen next Sunday or during the week. I know that I still owe you all a review of one certain book, it will come as a surprise at some point this year. I hope you are all doing well and have been busy in a good sense. Now back to the short film.

Today's short film will be existential and created in a way that would not be too common in a digital era - a cutout animation - it is one of the earliest forms of animation. In some ways it reminds me of Chinese shadow theater. For a while now I have been reading, flicking through, buying and carrying around Penguin's Great Ideas books, and Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus is next on my list after Immanuel Kant's An Answer to the Question: 'What is Enlightenment?'.

Therefore it only seemed suitable to introduce myself with the main idea of The Myth of Sisyphus before I start the reading, and what a better way to do it if not by watching an animation? Kati Rehback's created cutout animation A Day in the Lives of Sisyphus and Ivan tells the story of Sisyphus, who has been punished by gods, and Ivan Denisovich, who has been sentenced to spend 3653 days in a Soviet prison camp. The short is based on the writings by Albert Camus and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, both works use existentialism to criticise existing orders and modes of society. The simplistic style of Rehback's cutout animation portrays both stories in a simple, yet in a captivating way, which highlights the monotony of Sisyphus rolling the rock up the mountain or Ivan's days in the Soviet prison camp.

That is some food for thought, enjoy my dear reader and hope to see you some time soon!

A Day in the Lives of Sisyphus and Ivan from Kati Rehbeck on Vimeo.

(43) Short Film Sunday #28: Goodbye Mister De Vries (2012)

Blank.

My dear readers, this weeks Short Film Sunday for some time will be the 28th Short Film Sunday and also the last. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do, what I need to do and what are my passions, that makes my life fulfilled, as well as other existentialist questions about me as a being and about my being, that is existence. This blog was started first and foremost because I love writing and secondly, because I love films and cinema, I love the intimacy between the screen and the viewer that is created by darkness. When I write fiction I often think, how it would look on the screen, would it be a film, an animation, hand drawn or would it be stop-motion. Writing for me goes hand in hand with a film spurred by my imagination, same as reading.

Short films are quite often dismissed and forgotten, for me they often offer more than a feature film could ever offer - a short escape from reality. Despite the fact that this little project called Short Film Sunday made me realise how quickly time passes and how diverse this form of art can be, I need to put up a sign saying: "Gone for a short while."

I do not know, when there will be a next entry in this blog, but I am sure, that there will be a next one, maybe even next Sunday or Sunday after or in a few days, I am just saying that there will not be anymore guaranteed/promised posts on every Sunday. The reason is quite simple - I need more time for writing. I need to indulge more in literature, fiction, my stories and characters, I want them on paper and out of my head, so I can free some room up for future ideas and projects.

Now enough with explanations and smart talk, here you go this weeks Short Film Sunday, a lovely and heartfelt story about Mister De Vries, a lovely old man, who waits for his time to go. I stumbled upon Mascha Halberstad's created Goodbye Mister De Vries (2012) by accident, however the story has the same warmth around it as a story I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

Enjoy and goodbye my dear readers, just for a short while.

Yours truly,

Baiba.

P.S. As promised, there will be a review of "My Lunches with Orson" edited by Peter Biskind and it will hopefully happen some time soon.

P.P.S. Don't forget that Bates Motel is back with Season 2 on March 3. You still have time to watch Season 1 in case you missed it. You can read my review on Season 1 here.

(41) Short Film Sunday #26: Fairy tales

Drawing by Margarita Stāraste.

Today's post won't really be a short film, nor it will be any kind of film post. I am making exception, because one of my all time favourite artists, animators and children book authors, Margarita Stāraste, is celebrating her 100th birthday. So I want to use my blog to wish her a very happy birthday.

Daudz laimes dzimšanas dienā, Margarita Stāraste!*

I was fortunate enough to grow up with her books and illustrations, and I was fortunate enough that my parents read those books to me. One of the best known Margarita Stāraste's created character is Zīļuks/Titmouse. During my childhood I made a few of them myself by using matches and of course an acorn.

Drawing by Margarita Stāraste.

Margarita Stāraste brought to life many little creatures in woods, in your garden, at the back of your house, raindrops and snowdrops came to life, everything had its own life and story to tell, and everything was brought to life in vivid colours. These are the tales that will be passed on from generation to generation.

So all in all it is short film Sunday, just a different kind, I am asking you to roll back your film and remember fairy tales from your childhood, maybe it's time to dive back into them, indulge yourself into a fantasy world.

There are hundreds of more pictures that I want to put in, however I leave it to you, if you want more simply google - Margarita Stāraste pasakas - to open up a whole new world in front of our eyes, and if you happen to be in Latvia go to the nearest bookshop and ask for her books, you won't regret it, even if you can't read in Latvian (if you can read in Japanese, then look up her books in Japanese, as far as I know, a few of them have been translated into Japanese).

Enjoy, my dear reader, and once again a very happy birthday to Margarita Stāraste!

Drawing by Margarita Stāraste.

*Happy birthday, Margarita Stāraste!

(40) Short Film Sunday #25: Steamboat Willie (1928)

Steamboat Willie (1928).

Welcome back to Short Film Sunday, my dear reader. I have been gone for a while, and I have a brilliant excuse: I was enjoying myself up in the Scottish mountains and then down in the Welsh mountains, where my main concern was, where to put my next step. However, this week Short Film Sunday is back on with Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie (1928) and the reason for that is fairly simple, Disney's short animation Get a Horse (2013), that has been screened before Frozen (2013), has been nominated for Academy Award as the best animated short and it also features a very famous mouse, Mickey Mouse, 85 years after his debut. So, let's roll the film a bit back...

I am a bit of snob, when it comes to the Oscars (if you want to know why Oscar looks like Oscar, read David Thomson's "The Big Screen", a lovely little story). I am not a fan of the Academy Awards and I often disagree with nominations and wins, etc. Despite that, Mickey Mouse has always had a room on my shelf as a comic book/journal. I am quite sure, that I could still find the first Mickey Mouse comic book/journal that my parents got for me in my childhood, in the 1990's.

Steamboat Willie is often regarded as Micky Mouse and his girlfriend's Minnie's debut, although it was the third animation where Mickey appeared, but it was the first to be distributed. It is famous for being the first cartoon with synchronized sound, plus it introduced to the world one of the most famous cartoon characters - Mickey Mouse.

Enjoy the first distributed cartoon in which Mickey Mouse appeared and if you have a chance go to the movies and enjoy the latest cartoon in which Mickey Mouse stars.

(39) Short Film Sunday #24: Balance (1989)

Balance (1989).

Without balance nothing can really exist or co-exist, even chaos couldn't exist without a certain balance. I remember reading a story from 60's, can't remember the title, however the story went, that there was a family they all lived in their separate places, mother, father and a child, the only way they communicated was through their TV screens, something like Skype or video chat nowadays. They had never met in real life. However, one day they decide that they could all meet, what happens is a big explosion of emotions, because they are not familiar with human touch or other ways of communicating, all they know is the TV screen. Their meeting ends with a savage rage. The balance was destroyed.

Well, that story was written in 60's, sadly enough, it often seems to me that it is a route that humanity has taken, less real communication, more virtual communications. Balance is needed. Overcrowded Earth, every human being needs their own space, real or virtual, since there is no room on Earth, it is balanced out in the virtual world.

The short film Balance (1989) is about 5 individuals, who need to keep the platform in balance, so they wouldn't fall off of it and face death. Each individual is aware of the fact that they need to keep the platform in balance, that they need to cooperate in order to survive. What happens when one day one of the individuals pulls up a music box on the platform? Will harmony sustain? Will greed or cooperation win?

See for yourself. Enjoy, my dear reader!

Balance is a short animation made in Germany, directed by twin brothers, Christoph Lauenstein and Wolfgang Lauenstein. It has won several awards, including Academy Award for the Best Short Film in 1990.

(36) Short Film Sunday #21: The Snowman (1982)

The Snowman (1982).

Who is there up in the air? Close your eyes and imagine. Never ever limit your imagination, let it fly free.

Only two nights left till Christmas Eve, and three till Christmas day, we should all remember that this is a magical time not only for kids, but for all of us. This should be time when to read folk tales, fairy tales, your own tales, it is a time to add a bit of magic to everyday life. Raymond Briggs' animated picture book without words "The Snowman", published in 1978, brings to its readers or shall I say viewers, a bit of magic, that there is something more than our eyes can see. In 1982 the book was brought to the screen in a 26 minute short film The Snowman, and for the first time it was screened on December 26, 1982, on Channel 4. Immediately it was nominated for an Academy Award. The short film, same as the book, is wordless, with an exception of the song "Walking in the Air", performed by St Paul's Cathedral's choirboy Peter Auty, who was not credited in the original version, so many think that the song was performed by Aled Jones.

The Snowman is an exceptional work of art, it was made using traditional animation techniques, pastels, pencils and other colouring tools, which were used on pieces of celluloid  and then traced over hand drawn frames. The film tells a story of a young boy James, who discovers Christmas and its magic, during Christmas night James learns about fragility of life, importance of imagination and above all he learns about the importance of friendship.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Snowman, last year a sequel was made The Snowman and The Snowdog (2012).

The Snowman will bring to your home a white, happy and magical Christmas. Enjoy, my dear readers, and have a miraculous Christmas!

(29) Short Film Sunday #15: Out of a Forest (2010)

Out of a Forest (2010).

Out of a Forest (2010) is a little stop motion animated gem masterfully directed by Tobias Gundorff Boesen as his Bachelor degree film from  The Animation Workshop, it has deservedly won several awards and has been screened in quite a few film festivals.

Set in the woods surrounding Viborg (that makes me want to return to Denmark), Denmark and accompanied The National's song "Slow Show", it is a fantastic combination of a dark dreamlike story with a twist and happy out of a hat ending. The little hare family reminds me of bed time stories from my childhood, as well as, of my stuffed toy hare.

Have a nice cup of tea, sit back, enjoy and see for yourself what happens with the hare family!

P.S. Also give a listen to the new The National album "Trouble Will Find Me", a superb album.

(25) Short Film Sunday #11: Alma (2009)

Alma (2009).

Alma (2009) is  a brilliant little short film, creepy and scary, especially if all your childhood you had been scared of dolls. Well, I was and still am... And after this short I know why. The short is written and directed by Rodrigo Blaas, a former Pixar animator, who has worked on such beloved animations as, Wall-E, Up, Ratatouille, as well as La Luna (read my post on La Luna here), which are also my four favourite Pixar animations.

The animation is set in Barcelona during winter time and in concentrates around a little girl named Alma (in translation from Spanish it means "soul", which actually gives quite a deep subtext to the story), who gets tricked into an enchanted toy store, after in its window she sees a doll who looks like her. However, she doesn't know what awaits her in the spooky world of dolls...

The story is very well crafted, the animation is marvelous, and although the imagery of the short is sweet and adorable, as you can see from the picture above, despite that, there is quite a bit of underlying spookiness and creepiness. The short has won Animacor, International Animation Festival in Spain, award for the Best Andalusian Short, in 2009, it has also won an award for the Best Short in L.A. Shorts Fest in 2009. In 2010 it was announced that DreamWorks has made a deal with Rodrigo Blaas to adapt his short film Alma into a full length feature film, he himself will be directing it, with Guillermo del Toro executive producing it. According to this Variety article in June, 2012, the film was in visual development stage. So if you enjoy the short keep your eyes open, when the full length feature hits the big screens.

Now I will keep quiet and let you enjoy this adorable little piece! Have a good night's sleep!

(22) Short Film Sunday #9: Slow Derek (2011)

Slow Derek (2011).

Today is the last day of Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival, to mark that I am presenting to you the short that received the Grand Prix, Animated Encounters, in 2011: Slow Derek. However, that is not the only award that film has won. The stop motion animation Slow Derek is directed by Dan Ojari, who is a graduate of the Royal College of Art, with an MA in Animation, he has won several awards both as a director and as an animator.

Slow Derek is an epic and fascinating tale of an office worker Derek, who "struggles with the true speed of planet Earth". The short ties together Derek's slow and mundane life with the dizzying rotation of planet Earth. It is clever and, I would dare to say, a scientific short, which leaves you thinking, how we all still hold onto this world?

Ojari described the plot of Slow Derek to shortoftheweek.com as:

"very much about relativity and the contrast between the mundane and the colossal. The starting point was after I became particularly fascinated with how fast the earth is travelling, especially because we don’t feel this speed. We are literally hurtling through space at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour and yet don’t feel a thing. I felt this was, aside from being an amazing actual fact, also was an interesting metaphor for modern day life."

Hope you enjoyed this little spellbinding short that deals with such big issues, and stop by in couple of days to read my piece on the IdeasTap organised panel discussion that was a part of this years Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival: Film Industry Road Map.

(21) Short Film Sunday #8: The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling (2011)

The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling (2011).

The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling is a little sweet stop-motion animation about an old man and his fear. Nevertheless it is an ambitious and well carried out graduation project of Joseph Wallace, director and writer, and Emma-Rose Dade, cinematographer, from Newport Film School. The film was made in the period of eight months, everything you see in it is hand made, even the little flowers, everything that moves in the film, is moved by hand, and that makes this film even more charming. The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling has received several awards, including Best Up and Coming Talent Award at Canterbury Anifest, and it has been nominated for several more, including BAFTA Cymru Short Form and Animation Award.

I stumbled upon this gem through Future Shorts page on Youtube, after making a little research on it, I realised that it has been made almost in my neighborhood, that is Newport, since now I am living in Cardiff. So on my list of things to do, I now have a visit to Newport Film School, to see whether I can stumble upon other gems that are being created there.

Back to The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling, it tells a story about Ivor, whose "life is turned upside down after a falling plant pot sparks a series of paranoid reactions". It's sweet, charming, inspiring, enjoyable, admirably well done and touching, after all we all are afraid of something. See for yourself how this story goes:

Here is a short interview with Joseph Wallace and a little peak into the making of the animation:

Have a lovely Sunday afternoon!

(20) Short Film Sunday #7: The Longest Daycare (2012)

The Longest Daycare (2012).

David Silverman the main director of The Simpsons Movie (2007) and the supervising director for The Simpsons series presents to us a short 3D animation film The Longest Daycare starring Maggie Simpson. I must admit I haven't seen all the seasons of The Simpsons, however it was refreshing to watch something that concentrates on Maggie. Executive producer Al Jean said to Entertainment Weekly, that it is "hard to do a 20-minute Maggie episode, but in four minutes it’s great. She’s like Charlie Chaplin." So it is, the animation is funny, sweet and charming, and it has no dialogue. But for a story with no dialogue and only 4 minutes in length, it has enough twists and turns. Doesn't matter if you are or if you are not the fan of The Simpsons, you will still enjoy this whimsical gem.

The short was originally screened on the big screen before Ice Age: Continental Drift, it was nominated for Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2013, but lost it to Paperman.

Sit back and enjoy!

Because it is father's day today in Latvia, here is something special for all the fathers. Never forget how special you are in your child's life.

(19) Short Film Sunday #6: Destino (2003)

Destino (2003).

Destino (2003) is collaborative work between Salvador Dalí, Walt Disney and Disney Studio artist John Hench. Although the project started in 1946 (a year after Dalí and Hitchcock's collaboration on Spellbound (1945)) it only saw daylight in 2003. Some say that Disney approached the famous surrealist Dalí because of criticism that Disney Studio received, that it sacrificed art and inventiveness over marketability, that is, Disney Studio preferred a safer way of doing things. There was no convincing needed on Dalí's side, he quickly started to sketch, draw and make the first storyboards. However, 8 months into producing, the project was cancelled due to financial problems, nevertheless, Dalí and Disney stayed lifelong friends. From their short collaboration only a 17 second long demo reel survives alongside several sketches, drawings and storyboards. 

Destino was forgotten until the Disney Studio started their work on Fantasia (1940) sequel Fantasia/2000 (1999), both of which are richly inspired by surrealism. Fantasia/2000 inspired Roy Edward Disney to re-start and finish Dalí and Disney's project. By using Dalí's notes and storyboards and a little bit of help from Hench himself, the six minute animation was brought to life and finally saw daylight being premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2003. Although, they tried to keep it as close as possible to the original Dalí work, using some  original methods of animation, there is a sense of modernity and modern animation techniques, so in the end it is a Disney Studio work inspired by Dalí, Hench and Disney's collaboration back in 1946. However, the 17 seconds long original footage is a part of the final project, it is the bit where two turtles moves towards each other. Destino won several awards and was also nominated for the Academy Awards as the Best Animated Short Film. The musical score of the animation is composed by Armando Dominguez and performed by Dora Luz.

"Destino" from Spanish means "destiny", and so Destino tells a tragic love story of Chronos (the personification of time) who falls in love with a mortal woman and as in love stories there is a complication, that being, they cannot be together. The animation depicts different transformations as they dance over the surrealistic landscapes of Dalí's paintings.

Dalí described Destino as, "A magical display of the problem of life in the labyrinth of time." In juxtaposition to that, Disney described it as, "A simple story about a young girl in search of true love."

No matter, it is a masterpiece, which more than half a century ago was born in the minds of two geniuses, and an enjoyable treat for a Sunday evening.

(18) Short Film Sunday #5: Vincent (1982)

Vincent (1982).

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Tim Burton, happy birthday to you!

Tim Burton, for me one of the most peculiar and extraordinary directors working today, was born on this day in 1958. In order to mark this special day, I want to share one of his early works and my favourite Burton film Vincent (1982).

Vincent is an adaptation of Burton's poem of the same title. The making of this horror stop motion picture took around two months, it was shot in black and white, and with spooky shadows on the walls, it resembles the style of German expressionist films. It tells the story of a 7-year-old boy Vincent Malloy, who wants to be just like Vincent Price, who is actually the narrator of the film and Burton's childhood idol. Vincent dreams/imagines himself in varying situations, such as a tortured artist who has lost his wife and is banished to the tower of doom. In his imagined world Vincent lives through the stories written by Edgar Allan Poe and through different situations that Vincent Price would have experienced. From time to time he is reminded of the real world that is outside his room, nevertheless, at the end, to free himself from his torturous doom, he falls on the ground and [imagines that he] dies, while quoting lines from Poe's "The Raven":

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted- nevermore!

Did you notice Jack Skellington's cameos? If not watch again, if you did, then you shall continue and watch this brilliant "The Raven" reading by Vincent Price.

Have a lovely Sunday evening, my dear reader!

(13) Short Film Sunday #1: La luna (2011)

To get myself more disciplined and return back in the rhythm of watching and writing about films I came up with an idea for Short Film Sunday. So, from now on every Sunday I will shortly discuss one short film. All in all, Sunday's are lazy days, so what can be more delightful than watching a short film while having a lovely cup of afternoon tea and then taking a nap.

La luna (2011).

As an opening short film for my Short Film Sunday I chose La luna (2011). It is one of my absolute favourite short films and Pixar films. It is directed and written by Enrico Casarosa (now working on the upcoming Pixar feature The Good Dinosaur).

When I went to see the new hit from Pixar Brave (2012) last autumn, beforehand they showed a sweet little animation La luna (The Moon), which, in my opinion, was the highlight of the whole screening. It is a story about 3 generations, a grandfather, a father and a son, about their different ways of perceiving life and doing things, about one family's very special and most unusual line of work.

It is a captivating piece of animation, food for grown ups imagination and a marvellous little tale for kids to tell about the making of the crescent moon. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!

Have a lovely Sunday!