Annecy 2020: Shorts in Competition highlights
Another year another Annecy, but this time with a twist. After years of travelling to the beautiful french town, we find the town makes its way to our homes to accommodate for lockdown. How lovely.
As convenient as this is we do find ourselves missing out on the customs and traditions that the festival has spent 60 years growing. Throwing a paper aeroplane at your laptop doesn’t quite hold the same spectacle as the Grande Salle full to the brim with popping, bleating and barking patrons all eager to view the films. The obvious omissions aside the festival must be praised for delivering a mighty programme of not only short films, but work in progress talks, pitches and MIFA at such short notice and though the delivery of the short films was sometime problematic in my own experience (having to reset the settings on each short film with no play through option slightly takes one out of the moment) the festival provided what it always provides, a strong opening to a year of short films. Whatever is missing from the thrill of attending an event, the heart of the festival remains there in these amazing short films, so lets take a close look at some of the films that caught our eye this year.
Kicking off the competition screening and dancing a line between humour and head scratching was Murder in the Cathedral (Matija Pisacic, Tvrtko Raspolic). Based on a book series of the same name this film showed a lot of promise as a stylish and humorous piece as it takes place in a wonderfully caricatured world full to the brim with witty interjections, visual gags and comedic timing. However as the film continued I found the female equivalent of Sherlock Holmes bumbling her way through a case going topless for no reason other than to make fun of the dimwitted nature of the character struck me as a decision that hasn’t been made in honour of the female character but in spite of them which was slightly off-putting.
Perhaps a better representation of female character was found further into the programme with Carne (Camila Kater) presenting an incredible bounty of animation techniques underlining the pressures of womanhood all displayed through a thought provoking device of steak preferences. Homeless Home by Alberto Vázquez Ricothe director of Birdboy and Decorado takes a world of monsters and uncovers the very complex human aspects that live within them, a dramatic film with gritty fight scenes that stand out. 10,000 Ugly Ink Blots (Dmitry Geller) is a technique driven film which sees sound and music merge nicely drawing forward real character from a minimalist approach.
The Passerby (Pieter Coudyzer) makes the viewer feel like they are experiencing a moment in time and through hazy closeups, detailed artwork and switched perspectives a tale of tragedy is unwoven onscreen. Moi Barnabe demonstrated incredible intricate animation with seamless, almost CG stylings to give the tale of a priest haunted by rooster shaped demons a flawless aesthetic without losing out on the tangible charm of stop motion (read our interview with director Jean-François Lévesque here). Beyond Noh sees filmmaker Patrick Smith take another deep dive into culture by presenting masks that reflect society through history, sex, politics, class and cartoons all tied together through a dramatic drumbeat that delivers humour and intrigue throughout the well paced film.
Machini (Frank Mukunday, Trésor Tshibangu) takes raw materials and animates them into a story of communal struggle against automation. No, I Don’t Want to Dance (Andrea Vinciguerra) continues to delight the festival circuit as a series of communication failures with serious and hilarious consequences play out on screen. A fitting sequel to the award winning short The Burden, Something to Remember (Niki Lindroth Von Bahr) seems to continue the tale of singing animals at the end of the world and does so with another mesmerising glimpse into this quirky universe.
There was also fun to be had in the programme with Zillas Go For a Picnic (Christian Franz Schmidt), a short loaded with visual gags that might seem more at home on YouTube than in an international competition at the worlds largest animation festival, nonetheless its inclusion drew a dollop of much needed mirth. Urban Goat (Svetlana Razguliaeva) took the town mouse/country mouse vibe to rural Siberia where a city goat has to navigate the politics of a small town full of oddballs. Hot Flash (Thea Hollatz) tells the tale of an ageing meteorologist into a situation comedy as she copes with the uncomfortable situation she finds herself in.
The films that stuck with me after viewing included Altötting by Andreas Hykade (director interview here) which saw the director take his familiar joyfully bouncy, looping, caricature style and elevate it through an epic story of eternal love which was bolstered by a collaboration with art direction by Regina Pessoa. By way of spectacle Genius Loci (Adrien Mérigeau) pulled out all the stops to catch the eye of the audience, a veritable love letter to the art of 2D animation is the story of a woman and her clash with social anxiety and her unravelling mental instability, this film mesmerises the audience through a mastery of light, shape and colour. Theodore Ushev returns to Annecy with The Physics of Sorrow a melancholy narration of life with a timeless twist, a visceral short which commands the screen.
The short film programme at Annecy 2020 was packed with other worthy films this article fails to mention that will no doubt fill festival programmes throughout the year. 2020 might have proved to be a tricky year for Annecy, but for animated shorts there is certainly entertainment to be found in the selection watched at home.