Narrowed down from an amazing 2000+ entries, this year’s survey of the best in animated short films covers the gamut from sumptuous painterly Russian styles to the most inventive and expressive CGI, including NZ-made Poppy.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2009
Animation Now! 2009
It has been an astonishingly rich year for the animated film. We reviewed more than 2,300 entries and seldom has it been more difficult to confine the programme within the 90 minute limit we set ourselves. We have long-anticipated new releases from several of our favourite masters of the form, such as George Schwizgebel and the Academy Award winning creator of Ryan, Chris Landreth. Hand-crafted work vies with CGI on this year’s programme: sumptuous evidence that classic Russian animation is still being made competes for your attention with an absolutely world class digital New Zealand work that we are certain is going to go far. — MT
Muto 2008
A larger than life graffiti mural springs to life, rapidly consuming every paintable surface in its path. paint direct to street surfaces
Codswallop 2008
Blending a fascinating multi-frame layout with classic cartoon strip styling, this film takes us on a joyously irreverent trot through a series of random moments. 2D hand drawn
Take It Easy 2008
No corras tanto
A thoroughly entertaining compendium of just how many images can be crafted from coloured sands. sand animation
Rabbit Punch 2008
A disturbing story about two young boys with too much time on their hands playing the dangerous games young men do. ink on paper
Around 2007
A chain of dizzying images lavishly illustrate a day in an imaginary town as seen through the wide eyes of a boy who steps into it. pen and pencil on paper
The Employment 2008
El empleo
Where would you fit into this world in which the role of every household item and every piece of urban machinery is dutifully performed by a human? 2D hand-drawn
Anima 2008
An intensely digitised distopia is reformed from the shards of a rapidly shattering city taken over by wild animals from a distant jungle. 3D computer animation
The Black Dog's Progress 2008
The unwanted Black Dog patrols a confounding neighbourhood depicted as a seething mass of flickering, roughly hewn images. hand-drawn flipbooks, stopmotion
Toy Angel 2008
A visually stunning, quintessentially classic Russian style animation tracing the path a small wax angel carves into the troubled soul of a small boy. paint on glass, hand-drawn
Retouches 2008
Master of gloriously hand painted, perception bending visual acrobatics, Schwizgebel’s latest mesmerising film swoops and soars through the fleeting fragments of everyday journeys. paint on board
Poppy 2009
A superbly depicted battlefield dilemma. In the horrors of the trenches, two New Zealand soldiers take responsibility for the smallest of lives. computer animation
The Spine 2009
The latest film from the Academy Award winning maker of Ryan. The brittle, complex collection of personalities within a counselling group critique the lop-sided loads of gifts and sacrifices shared by an unusual couple. computer animation