Animated Shorts: Program 2

Titles in this program include: Ecce, Ice Merchants (only in person), Kolaj, Morning Joy, Nyanga, Regular Rabbit, Salvation Has No Name, and The Temple.

 

Sponsored by Zaloo’s Canoes.

 

Ecce

Ecce is an Escherian journey through the ordinary day of a woman who lives every day doing the same task from which she cannot extricate herself. Soon we will realize that this is not the story of a single woman but that of many people forced to live in the same claustrophobic circle of Dante. Directed by: Margherita Premuroso

 

 

 

Ice Merchants

Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily. This stunning, out-of-competition film is only playing in-person because it was nominated for the 2023 Academy Awards. Directed by: João Gonzalez

 

 

 

Kolaj

As a girl grows up, her world starts to become more complicated. She notices lines appearing on people’s faces that she hadn’t noticed before. While trying to see the hidden lives in between her neighbors’ facial features, her own face struggles to ignore an unwanted line from her childhood. Directed by: Gülce Besen Dilek

 

 

 

 

Morning Joy

A recently widowed pianist has an unexpected encounter. Directed by: John Henry Hinkel

 

 

 

 

 

Nyanga

During the colonial era, Nyanga was kidnapped off the coast of Africa, brought to Mexico, and enslaved. Though forced to work on the master’s plantation, he never stopped dreaming of freedom. Based on historical fact, and using shadow theater and handmade cinema, Nyanga is an homage to resistance against colonial chains. Directed by: Medhin Tewolde Serrano

 

 

 

Regular Rabbit

With story and visuals purposefully separated, a regular rabbit battles a comically absurd onslaught of disinformation. He is not the nightmare being told. He is, as shown, a regular ol’ stupid rabbit doing his usual rabbit stuff! The narrator is full of s#!t!! How is this so hard to believe?! Fake news!! Where’s the evidence?! Agh!!! He is nothing more than a regular rabbit! Directed by: Eoin Duffy

 

 

 

Salvation Has No Name

A troupe of clowns gather to perform a story about a priest and a refugee, but as their misguided tale unfolds, the boundaries between fiction and reality begin to fray. Directed by: Joseph Wallace

 

 

 

 

The Temple

Adapted from the short story by H.P. Lovecraft, the crew of a German U-boat, on a mission in the North Atlantic, witnesses strange phenomena on board. After an inexplicable explosion in the engine room, the submarine slowly sinks to the abyssal depths, while madness decimates the submariners. Directed by: Alain Fournier