OIAF 2008: Shorts Competition 3
Ottawa International Animation Festival Features 18 Short Films
Sep 24, 2008
While the OIAF Shorts Competition 3, held on Friday September 19th, didn't reach the heights of the first night, there were plenty of worthy animated shorts to choose from.
The Good
Johanna Bessiere, Cecile Dubois Herry, Simon Rouby, Nicolas Chauvelot, Olivier Clert & Yvon Jardel's "Blind Spot" was a violently funny short about a robbery gone wrong, and Nils Knoblich's undergraduate piece "1st Date" followed a man's crisis of conscience over his moustache. Both were tightly animated, and very funny.
Several cartoon television series showcased at this competition. Saturday Night Live's "The Ambiguously Gay Duo #11" featured the evil BigHead trying to conclusively prove once and for all that Ace and Gary batted for the other team by using the Minneapolis Police Department, while Christy Karacas' Superjail! depicted the ultimate gladiator arena in "Combaticus." Robert Marianetti and David Wachtenheim's Big Baby was represented by the hilarious episode "Rookie," in which the gigantic infant of the title is partnered with a Dirty Harry-style cop.
Some imaginative ads showcased as well. Yuichi Ito's "Mimi in Wonderland" put the Nishimatsuya store icon in a Lewis Carroll setting, and Frank Budgen & Darren Walsh's "Play-Doh" showed plasticine rabbits invading New York to promote the Sony Bravia television set. Finally, Makoto Shinkai's "Cats Gathering" showed Japanese cat owners how they could stop their feline companions from indulging in a Godzilla-style takeover.
The Bad and The Ugly
Unfortunately, there were some less-than-stellar entries. Duarte Amorim, Albino Tavares, Miguel Marinheiro and Sérgio Couto's music video for Último's "Spong Ice" got old fast, and Anna Kalus' "Seemannstreue (Sea Dog's Devotion)" was merely confusing.
Lansing Bruce Robertson's "Dino-Orange (How Birds Fly)" was an incoherent mess, Bruce Bickford's "The Comic That Frenches Your Mind" should have stayed in the creator's last LSD trip, and David Seitz & Mike Wray's "The Mixy Tapes and Theodore Ushev's "Drux Flux" were only good at inducing seizures in epileptics.
"You notice how some directors don't go all the way to the front?" whispered one observer between shorts, when the previous short's directors were taking their bows. "They know their piece sucked and they're embarrassed."
The Best of the Night . . . According to Some
But it was Jackson He's "Race Across the Rainbow" that really wowed many people, including Suite 101. His depiction of two men battling each other to realize their dreams, while oblivious to the wonderland around them, was not only a complete 5-minute film, but displayed a stunning wisdom.
The fact that He is still in high school made his accomplishment even more stunning. If he's unleashing this level of quality when he's still a teenager . . . the mind boggles.
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