Submarine Channel
Animations rock! But we already knew that, and so did you. The mighty film selectas in Cannes, however, are only just beginning to grasp this it seems. As someone mentioned in an opening speech at the Semaine de la Critique’s launch party, it was Logorama’s winning the Oscar for short animation feature that encouraged the Cannes selection bods to choose three animations (two of them French) for the first time in the entire history of the Semaine de la Critique’s Short Film competition!
The magic of animation was also plain for all to see in the official Short Film Competition, in which the two animations (out of nine shorts in total), had by far the best ideas and scripts (ioho), resulting in the visually stunning and profoundly poignant Chienne D’Histoire by Serge Avedikian being awarded the ultra-coveted Palme d’Or. Portraying the massacre of street dogs in 1910 Constantinople, it managed to include generous dollops of the three key ingredients – gripping story, compelling characters, evocative imagery – where the live action selects seemed weak in comparison. The visual evolution of Chienne – transforming from detailed realism to abstract minimalism, was a powerful visual trick to pull at the old heartstrings.
It seems the playful and innovative visual approach of the landmark Logorama has generated a flurry of creative expression and confidence, as reflected in the wide range of techniques, from animated analog to stencilling, to live footage mixed with 2D and 3D, which we saw at Cannes… I feel a pool party coming on!
