Here is another round of animated shorts from HollyShorts Film Festival. In this group I draw from various screening blocks, one for kids animation and some for more adult audiences.
They (8 minutes), directed by Renée Zellweger, wonders if we can get along. The main character (and his dog) note that the world is filled with negativity and animosity (represented by red smoke). He develops a plan to suck up all the red smoke, and take it to space to use in a weapon that will cure the problem. It doesn’t really work until something happens that makes everyone pull together to save his dog.
ChicaBOOM! (9 minutes), directed by C. Craig Patterson, is about magic and believing in oneself. Chica wants to be a magician like her father, but can’t do even a simple trick. When she opens her father’s cabinet, she finds bottle filled with shimmering light. Opening one releases KABOOM, a chaotic spirit who heads off to have fun in Central Park. Chica must figure out how to get it back in the bottle—and discovers the true power within her.
Saba (10 minutes), directed by Liron Topaz, turns the world upside-down. This is a surreal animation with a boat that seems to be floating under the water. Casting a line for fishing goes up. Or maybe we’re seeing it upside-down, but not always. It is a fun little mind trip.
Metafear (16 minutes) directed by Shuhei Morita, is even more surreal. A girl plagued by nightmares writes them all down and names them. There is one she isn’t able to name, and it escapes out into the world, transforming everything and everyone, until she bravely confronts it.
With Tape and Toast in the Car [Im Auto Tapes und Butterbrot] (14 minutes), directed by Kiana Naghshineh, is a cosmic reflection on dying. A young woman gets a terrible diagnosis. As she deals with family, she also finds a strange connection with Laika, the dog the Soviets sent into space. It allows her to sense some sort of cosmic connection to the universe, even as she is grieving her coming death.
Gauze (8 minutes), directed by Noran Fikri Alezabi, Nicholas Arujah, Xinyue Ma, Yulin Yue, and Xiaonan Zhou, is a story of survival. Fourteen year old Zain was a champion Palestinian swimmer. Now he is in a refugee camp as the sole caregiver for his brother who has lost an arm. When supplies are dropped into the ocean, Zain swims out, hoping to get something to eat, nearly perishing in the attempt.
Living with a Visionary (15 minutes) directed by Stephen P. Neary, says it is a true story. A man and woman have been married for over fifty years. Because of medications she takes for Parkinsons, she has delusions, seeing giants rampaging, or a flower-man. Her husband cares for her as best he can. Their love has carried them through all the years. But as she gets worse, he can’t cope as well. She goes to assisted living, and social workers take him to the mental hospital where he is trapped. Add to this the coming of the pandemic. This is a film about love, about aging, about loss. I think this is the film that will stick with me the longest of all the ones I’ve seen at HollyShorts this year.
