An annual curated selection of the best animated shorts from around the world, the Animation Show of Shows has included scores of films that went on to win Oscar nominations — and showcased mini-masterpieces the Academy overlooked. Featuring 11 films from 7 countries, including at least one that has been shortlisted for the 2020 Oscars already, this edition offers an array of highly imaginative, thought-provoking, and moving works that reflect the filmmakers' unique perspectives and their relationships to the world.
Personal relationships are at the heart of several of the films in this year’s program, including Daria Kashcheeva’s International Student Academy Award-winning puppet animation Daughter, a deeply moving exploration of the ties between a father and daughter. Charting a very different, but related, course, “The Fox and the Bird” by Sam & Fred Guillaume, is a beautifully observed fable about an unlikely friendship. Filmmaker Michael Frei and game designer Mario von Rickenbach provide a more clinical view of human behavior in their mesmerizing KIDS, which explores the nature of group dynamics.
The question of individual identity informs both Hounds by Amit Cohen & Ido Shapira and (Self-Narrative) by Géraldine Charpentier. In the former, a highly domesticated dog undergoes a disturbing change when a pack of wild hounds gathers near his house, while the latter offers a clear-eyed and heartfelt look at a young girl’s journey to self-realization as a transgender person.
Joanna Lurie’s mysterious and transcendent Flowing through Wonder chronicles an extraordinary ritual and celebrates the transformative mystery that underlies life and death. Natalia Mirzoyan’s Five Minutes to Sea, in which a young girl waits impatiently to go back in the sea, takes a more lighthearted approach, while playing with conundrums of time and perspective.
The program is rounded out by Gil Alkabetz’s Rubicon, a frenetic and very funny hand-drawn animation based on the classic riddle about how to ferry a wolf, a sheep, and a cabbage across a river without something getting eaten. In addition to the slapstick, the film also serves as a parable about the convoluted nature of political negotiations, specifically those related to the Middle East.
The program also includes two mini-documentaries about the creative process featuring Alkabetz and Amit Cohen & Ido Shapira (Hounds).
"A stylistically varied collection with nary a cutesy-pandering 'toon in the bunch." -Hollywood Reporter
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