From the dark side, this bold, bracing collection of short films goes deeper and blacker than live-action will allow.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2019
Animation NOW! Dark Hearts
An imagination is an impossible beast to control. As an independent human life force, it is both a blessing and a curse – and that ratio is different for every single one of us. Reigning it in when it goes rogue can be akin to being dragged out into the darkness on the end of a long rope pulled by a wild horse.
And yet some of these darkest notions can be some of the most compelling stories we create. Sometimes, they tell a truth we refuse to speak or share. In Coyote, complicated – and decidedly human – emotions are felt as a savage animal contemplates revenge after its pups are attacked by wolves. And in the acclaimed Egg, the animator’s own struggle with anorexia is boldly and memorably explored.
Dark Hearts clusters together these and other catalogues of uncertain hallucinations, unspoken fears and deconstructed dreams, showing the power of animation to mine the very edges of imagination.
Caterpillarplasty 2018
A glossy and scabrous takedown of the cosmetic surgery industry.
Sous le cartilage des côtes 2018
Pierrot has a wound that won’t heal. Pierrot is about to die… or so he thinks.
The Subject 2018
A story-within-a-story about the art of creation, doubling as a detailed homage to the animator’s vocation of breathing life into the inanimate.
Hunter 2017
A sinister, subterranean nightmare bursting forth from a fevered, not entirely lucid imagination.
Coyote 2018
Beware the angry, drunk, loner coyote with an appetite for mutilation.
Mr Deer 2018
In a dilapidated subway car, a mysterious deer attempts to rekindle the humanity of his fellow passengers.
Love He Said 2018
Charles Bukowski reads his iconic poem Love to an audience more than ready for the big man.
Egg 2018
Have you considered food as a choice rather than a requirement? One of the most awarded animated films on the circuit this year.