The Story Of Francis

The animated story of Francis came from the famed radio show called 'This American Life,' which focuses on journalism, essays, short fiction and other memoirs.  This particular tale came about when the host of the show, Ira Glass asked 6 American writers to create a short story centered around the theme of adventure. One of these stories was written by novelist & screenwriter Dave Eggars, which in turn was read on the show to much acclaim and praise.

Director Richard Hickey decided to adapt this tale into an animated short alongside producer Kevin Batten, tapping the talent of 40 different artists to work on bringing this heartwarming tale to life. Francis has been shown at festivals including Cannes and Rain dance. While I wish the narrator had a little bit more range of emotion, the story is solid and the visual quality is excellent. Loved it.

The Photo Man

Mark Kologi has spent years engaged in a truly strange, yet compelling hobby of collecting, curating and selling found photos of strangers lives. Over the course of his entire collectors career he's bought and sold millions of photographs, and lived vicariously through them. While some people might consider owning photos of other peoples lives a little unsettling, Kologi sees them as an 'emotional' art form. This thoughtful documentary by Ben Kitnick offers us an intimate view into the collectors mind, and his passion regarding his niche endeavor.

Get Back

We live in an era of seemingly endless technology.  I mean, where are you and I (reader and writer, respectively) right now?  With the many advantages and positives that come with any advancement to society, comes a price.  Though perhaps slightly exaggerated for effect, this short film illustrates that price when it comes to how connected a lot of us require to be.  And it's that hyper-connection that can somehow ironically have the opposite effect.  Written and directed by Eliot Rausch.

Sundance 2013 Shorts - The Roper

The Roper is a fantastically directed, thoughtful little slice of life documentary following the life of a Louisiana based cowboy called Kendrick and his struggle to follow his dreams while overcoming adversity. Directed by Ewan McNicol & Anna Sandilands, the mini doc manages to be a well rounded experience in under six minutes, offering an intimate portrait of a man with a humble heart and great ambitions, with interesting stylistic choices made in regards to sound and cinematography.

The final product nearly blurred the line between documentary and short film thanks to it's great presentation, and it simply left me wanting more. Here's to hoping that this might just be a proof of concept for a full length documentary.

Orgesticulanismus

Created as a tribute to his father, Matthew Labaye's Orgesticulanisumus explores breaking away from the constrictions that would otherwise hold you down, and figuring out a new way to express yourself. In this case, Benoit Labaye (Matthew's father) suffered from a disease that over time removed his mobility, but he never gave up in spirit. As he put it towards the end (Translated):

'Sure, the stillness, the handicap, brings you to the conclusion and to the gradual acceptance that there's a certain number of things that you can't do. But conversely I think it opens a whole bunch of new possibilities, notably with inner freedom, inner space, but also with the way you can come in contact, in relation with others. I think there is in the handicap, in the disease, a lot of potential. The human being is inexhaustible at the level of desire, of energy, of inner strength. And it's something you discover with maybe more urge, more intensity, when you're deprived of movement.'

The beautiful animation goes into that aspect, breaking away from having limited motion to finding a new way to still enjoy life via inner strength. Absolutely loved the message, and the energy conveyed.

Dive

In simple terms, this is just about a woman who decides to end her engagement to her fiance, and take off. After taking a quick break, she realizes that's not what she wants after all, and gets back to him before he realizes what has happened. But there's a universal theme here about regret, and deciding to reverse a previous decision. It's something everyone has dealt with at one time or another, and not even just with relationships, but also education, career, family, etc. On of the most common pieces of advice doled out is to take a break before making a big decision, rather than making it impulsively. Timing is everything, and the woman in the short was ultimately lucky that she was able to reverse her decision before it became final, i.e. her boyfriend woke up.