Threnody(2020)

A Visual Poem(xx)

Surreal environments take center stage in this visual odyssey.

Kiki of Montparnasse(fr)

'Kiki de Montparnasse' was the unwary muse of major avant-garde painters of the early twentieth century. Memorable witness of a flamboyant Montparnasse, she emancipated from her status as a simple model and became a Queen of the Night, a painter, a press cartoonist, a writer and a cabaret singer.

Hisser(en)

The story told in Hisser was inspired by a true occurrence. In 2013, a young man in Florida was literally "swallowed up by the earth" when a cesspool suddenly opened up under his bedroom. The film's main setting is a bedroom by night. From the way it was shot, the viewer has the feeling of peering into an abandoned life-size dollhouse. Other sequences show close-up views of a young man lying on a bed with a tormented look on his face or cowering in a corner. The scene is accompanied by an exaggeratedly romantic song whose refrain – "It took me so long to get my feet back off the ground" – alludes to the loss of a loved one and a sense of abysmal loneliness. The song's emotionality contrasts starkly with the artificiality of the scene. The boundary between reproduction and reality grows fluid, and the virtuality – which the artist has carried to a near- perfect extreme – begins to crumble in view of the protagonist's physical and emotional frailty.

Song of the Flies(es)

The experimental animated film Song of the Flies (El Canto de las Moscas), translates the desolation caused by the violence of the Colombian armed conflict through the poetic voice of Maria Mercedes Carranza (1945–2003) and the audiovisual dialogue between 9 Colombian women. In 24 places, as a transit over the course of a day (Morning, Day, Night) a map of terror is drawn where massacres took place in Colombia in the 1990s. Archival images, the artists’ personal memories and the use of loops and analogue materials bring to life the landscapes ravaged by violence and build a polyphony of memory and mourning, a universal song of pain.

Sound! Euphonium the Movie – May the Melody Reach You!(ja)

Following their success in the qualifying round for the Kansai regional competition, the members of the Kitauji High School concert band set their sights on the next upcoming performance. Utilizing their summer break to the utmost, the band participates in a camp where they are instructed by their band advisor Noboru Taki and his friends who make their living as professional musicians. Kumiko Oumae and her friends remain determined to attain gold at the Kansai competition, but trouble arises when a student who once quit the band shows interest in rejoining and sparks unpleasant memories for the second-year members. Kumiko also learns about her teacher's surprising past and the motivation behind his desire to lead the band to victory. Reaching nationals will require hard work, and the adamant conviction in each student's commitment to the band will be put to the test.

Minuet(en)

An essay in colour harmonics and visual overtones. Conceived and produced as part of the Images Film Festival's Minute Movies.

Cameras Take Five(en)

The enduring romance of the lines. A visual exploration of Dave Brubeck's jazz classic "Take Five".

Your Voice -KIMIKOE-(ja)

The story focuses on high school girl Nagisa Yukiai who lives in a seaside town. She has believed her grandmother's story that spirits dwell in words and they are called "kotodama" (word spirit). One day, she strays into a mini FM station that has not been used for years. As an impulse of the moment, she tries to talk like a DJ using the facility. But her voice accidentally broadcasted reaches someone she has never expected.

Artist at work(en)

Two egg-shaped clown performers try out new ways to impress audiences.

Contours(en)

The inhabited world is a constructed environment: a space that has been defined, created, and scaled for the sustenance and privilege of the human species alone. Humans have created a language that we cannot see beyond, one based on capital that hurdles us towards social and climate collapse. Contours reveals this position while also meditating on what it would mean to move away from this language in order to privilege not only the human but the other than human as well.

Anthropic Principle(en)

arc of the natural world’s evolution from the primeval environment to the Anthropocene and back again premiered in program Death is Green at the Whitney Museum of American Art part of Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art 1905-2016 organized by Chrissie Iles

Enough of Myself(nl)

Do you ever wonder why you are the way you are? One day I decided to ask myself this question and I have been struggling to put the answer together ever since. “Enough of Myself” is my visualization of this process. When I finally had the headspace to consider my own emotions, it turned out to be a lot harder than I had thought. When you start to examine your own thoughts and patterns, the digging doesn’t stop. You keep digging deeper and finding new connections that you might have preferred stay hidden. But to ignore these things is to give in to them. Growth requires a certain level of vulnerability, not just towards others but towards yourself as well. To grow beyond those negative patterns, you need to look them in the eye first. In my film I tried to capture this emotional process in an array of animations. I hope that I haven’t just captured my own emotional process, but some deeper universal emotions as well.

Dieci Cadute(it)

An underground fight is taking place in a painter's studio between the artist and the ten tyrants.

Deter & Oro(es)

Love(tr)

A strange wire-fingered homunculus navigates through his dreams of different faces and faces, traversing a subliminal and endless variety. They are all different faces, but all have huge eyes that are questioned as to what keeps them apart, perhaps left broken by an impossible love.

African American Express(en)

African American Express is an abstract animation exploring the impact of consumerism in the Black community. Told in the style of Soviet Propaganda, this animated short dissects the pattern of excessive materialism and consumption prevalent within the Black population.

Eyen(en)

Experimental short film that mix drawings of Jean-Luc Chansay's daughter with computer animation and sculptures of Marie Mercier.

Ab ovo - Traces of Sand(xx)

A non-narrative film thematising the eternal struggle of human life in a series of scenes connected by associations and accompanied by a strong music motif.

Faroeste(pt)

Short film made using cardboard cutouts of a classic Western scene

Study No. 8(de)

An experimental short from Oskar Fischinger