BEST AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILMS - 4
Birthday Boy by Sejong Park (2004) (S Korea) (8m)
Birthday Boy, by Korean-born Sejong Park, is a computer animated short film set in 1951 - during the destructive Korean War. Little Manuk is playing around his war ravaged village and dreaming of life at the front, where his father is a soldier. It is his birthday and when he returns home to find a parcel on the doorstep he innocently assumes it to be a present and opens it. It won the Best Short Animation BAFTA and was nominated for an Oscar in 2005.
We Have Decided Not To Die by Daniel Askill (2004) (Aus) (10m) *
Written and directed by Australian filmmaker Daniel Askill, now best known for directing fellow Australian Sia's music videos (Chandelier, Elastic Heart), We Have Decided Not To Die is a bold, mesmeric experimental short with a throbbing soundtrack that performed well on the short film festival circuit. Askill also performs in the film, being the man seen in the second ritual. As with most experimental short films, you can read as much or as little into it as you want, but it seems to be fairly simple selection of visual metaphors.
Girl + Ghost by Nik Wansbrough (2015) (Australia) (11m)
Girl + Ghost mixes animation with live action in a dialogue-free romance about a lonely ghost in love with the girl living on his street. Four years in the making, the film reveals the ghost’s fantastical daydreams, but it appears that a flirtatious postman has caught the girl’s eye and is well on his way to winning her affections. As the story unfolds the ghost must struggle to make his presence known to the girl before the postman sweeps her off her feet.
