CANNES ANIMATIONS 2
More winning animations from the Cannes film festival.
On My Doorstep by Anat Costi (2010) (Israel) (6m) *
This hand drawn animation tells the story of a young woman who suffers from agoraphobia and wears a dog cone when she leaves her apartment as a way to block out the world. Yes, it's weird, and things get a bit weirder as what is real or not becomes confused. The artwork is impressive but the story is a little arcane. Costi continues to work as an animator in Israel.
Cooked by Jens Blank (2010) (UK) (7m)
Written by Jens Blank and Caroline Bruckner, Cooked was made at the National Film & Television School and nominated at Cannes in 2010. It tells the story of a romantically challenged walrus who is keen on a lady seal, but a rather brashlobster is getting in the way. When the the love triangle end up in a sauna, the walrus sees a chance to get rid of the lobster. In truth, the story is not that brilliant but the characters are voiced expertly by Stephen Mangan (Episodes), David Morrissey (The Walking Dead) and Katherine Parkinson (Humans).
Skhizein by Jérémy Clapin (2007) (France) (13m)
Having been struck by a 150-ton meteorite (and not an asteroid), Henry has to adapt to living precisely ninety-one centimeters away from himself. Even after watching this fantastic computer animation the premise remains hard to get your head around. But then I used to think dogs were small horses. Skhizein won Frenchman Jeremy Clapin the Kodak Short Film award at Cannes in 2008 and he is now working as an animator in France - mainly in advertising.
Blind Spot by Bessiere et al (2007) (France) (3m) *
Blind Spot was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. In this computer animation, a small grocery shop is held up by a robber with a twitchy trigger finger while a little old lady considers buying an umbrella. The robber ends up shooting the two shop workers dead, mostly by accident, but never encounters the old lady, although she is inadvertently involved in the second shooting. But when the CCTV footage is reviewed, a rather different narrative is shown.
