The 21st Annual Animation Show of Shows
RSVP for screening link
This is a PAID screening, but those who RSVP will receive a discount code, making the film $10. When you RSVP you will then be emailed a screening link and discount code for the film that will be active from Feb 5–25*. (Now extended to February 25!)
A portion of the proceeds will go to Cornell Cinema and help cover the costs of the many free screenings we are offering.
The Animation Show of Shows, a curated selection of the “best of the best” animated short films created by students and professionals around the world is back! (This latest iteration was originally scheduled to be shown in March ’20 but had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.)
Featuring ten films from seven countries, this edition of the program offers an array of highly imaginative, thought-provoking, and moving works that reflect the filmmakers’ unique perspectives and their relationship to the world. “Animation is an incredibly versatile medium that allows artists to explore situations and ideas that you won’t see anywhere else,” says Animation Show of Shows founder and curator Ron Diamond. “From political and philosophical concerns, to the complexities of individual identity and personal relationships, animated short films are uniquely able to capture the many facets of human experience.”
The 21st Animation Show of Shows includes three films that qualified for Academy Award consideration. The complete lineup is:
- Kids - Michael Frei, Mario von Rickenbach, Switzerland
- Rubicon - Gil Alkabetz, Germany
- Portrait of Gil Alkabetz (Rubicon) - Marta Trela, Germany
- Five Minutes to Sea - Natalia Mirzoyan, Russia
- Récit de soi (Self-Narrative) - Géraldine Charpentier, Belgium
- Le jour extraordinaire (Flowing through Wonder) - Joanna Lurie, France
- Hounds - Amit Cohen, Ido Shapira, Israel
- Portrait of Amit Cohen and Ido Shapira (Hounds) - Shlomi Yosef
- The Fox and the Bird (Le renard et l’oisille) - Sam & Fred Guillaume, Switzerland
- Daughter - Daria Kashcheeva, Czech Republic
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 between the two eponymous characters. 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.
Animation has often been the medium of choice for artists seeking to explore abstract ideas or philosophical issues, and these themes are well represented in the program. Joanna Lurie's mysterious and transcendent Flowing through Wonder chronicles an extraordinary ritual and celebrates the transformative mystery that underlies life and death. In Airship of Unknown Direction, Alexandra Galitskova creates a strange and beautiful alternate universe that both seduces and challenges the viewer with its opaque narrative.
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). Suitable for ages 8+.
website: www.animationshowofshows.com/pages/21st-annual-animation-show-of-shows-press-kit
Subtitled • Ithaca Premiere