Midnight Animation

This year’s Anifilm once again brings two selections of short films which will certainly find their audience among the rather shockproof and hardened viewers. Films from the Deeper insight showcase are mainly horror films and some of them portray decomposition and entrails. The authors are not afraid of extremes and show the most disgusting things you can imagine. But they often include humour in their films, even though it is a rather absurd and atypical humour as you can see in Herring. Some authors even combine horror with grotesque (Bighorror) and others focus on human organs (Eye in Tuna Care, Cannibalize). The collage film called Two Minutes of Cartoon Violence is a humorous study of violence. On the whole, the selection is a mosaic of bizarreness and obscurity portrayed with various animation techniques.

Bighorror, Maurice Huvelin, produkce, France, 2014, 2 min 10 s

The Subtenant, Damian Krakowiak, The Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School, Poland, 2014, 6 min 43 s

With Joy and Merriness, Jeanne Boukraa, ADiFAC, Belgium, 2014, 5 min 52 s

Herring, Davor Bujakovic, Netherlands, 2014, 2 min 12 s

Eye in Tuna Care, John Walter Lustig, USA, 2014, 4 min 6 s

Mike & Wayne: The Grind, Esteban Valdez, Echo Bridge Pictures, USA, 2014, 2 min 10 s

Upgrade, Koby Hadour, Israel, 2014, 3 min 44 s

Don't Feed The Penguin, Alenka Krizenecky, EMCA, France, 2014, 6 min 38 s

Viscera, Lauren Morrison, USA, 2014, 4 min 5 s

Obvious Child, Stephen Irwin, United Kingdom, 2014, 12 min 21 s

Two Minutes of Cartoon Violence, Karl Staven, The University of the Arts (Philadelphhia), USA, 2014, 2 min 22 s

Cannibalize, Behrouz Basiri Fard, Iran, 2014, 14 min

The films from our second midnight programme also focus on body, but this time from another point of view - more intimate, sexual and a bit perverted. Some authors focus directly on the reproduction process as you can see in the disturbing films Bottom Feeders and The Flesh. Others are addressing this topic rather sporadically and focus on something completely different - observe the strange film Eye You. The focus of contemporary animators is really wide; it ranges from inventive genital depilation (No Man’s Bush) to castration in a carefully constructed twenty-minute-film Growing Pains.

Bottom Feeders, Matt Reynolds, CalArts, USA, 2014, 2 min 30 s

The Flesh,  Louise Lemoine Torrès, William Henne, Lardux Films & Zorobabel, France, Belgium, 2014, 14 min 40 s

Nude and Crude, Mario Addis, Italy, 2014, 3 min 31 s

Eye You, Nick Simpson,  Australia, 2014, 4 min 40 s

No Man's Bush, Jelle van Meerendonk, Belgium, 2014, 2 min 30 s

Hard and Soft, Andrey Bakhurin, Russia, 2 min 26 s

Heftzi Gets Screwed, Tzlil Bendrihem, Israel, 2014, 5 min 25 s

Growing Pains, Tor Fruerlund, First Lady Film, Denmark, 2014, 22 min

The story is about an inmate just released from jail, who spent two weeks in prison for a crime he did not commit and now seek revenge. The movie leads the viewer through lively adventures involving the Chineese Dragon clan, illegal cage fighting, bank robbery and thousands of their exciting moments. But there is a turn at the end the main characters have to face that will keep even the most avid action movie fans on their toes. Instinctly sarcastic, cynical, moving and of course highly entertaining, Manieggs is a movie for those who know what lies behind stereotypes.