My partner and I decided to attend Cardiff Animation Night at Kongs, Cardiff on the 25th May and I’m so, so happy we did! It was an amazing night where a load of animation lovers gathered together to enjoy some quality animation shorts from around the world. Cardiff Animation Nights (CAN) is a non-profit organization running animation events in Cardiff, from screenings of award-winning independent animation, to festival programmes, workshops, talks, and masterclasses.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t been one to venture much past the usual cartoons you see (I love my Animation Domination season), so it was refreshing for me to expand my animation palette and try something different (Full video on our Youtube channel).
We were spoiled with 12 short films and here were some of my favourites!
CHRONEMICS – DIR. Animade (UK)
Synopsis: Light fears Dark. Dark resents Light. Always at odds. Always in conflict. Pushing borders. Losing ground. Never ending. But what is one without the other? The stronger the light, the darker the shadow.
Opinion – It was mesmerizing and thought provoking and also incredibly funny at times, it had some of us in fits of giggles.
CASSE-CROUTE – DIR. Burcu & Geoffrey (France)
Synopsis: A little journey through a forest full of creatures looking for a snack.
Opinion: This film was incredibly short (it’s literally on for a whole minute), but it was aesthetically pleasing. The colours were vibrant the film just popped out of the screen! It was very clean and stylish, it definitely had that French touch to it!
HAPPY END – DIR. Jan Saska (Czech Republic)
Synopsis: A black comedy about death with a happy ending. A splendid chain of unlikely encounters. Hunters, a tractor driver, a disco boy, and a corpse.
Opinion: This was my absolute favourite short out of all 12 and was certainly a firm favourite with the entire audience! Really funny piece of film and incredibly clever. Everyone was howling with laughter. I cannot recommend this short enough and you need to watch the teaser linked in the title above!
BIRDLIME – DIR. Evan DeRushie (Canada)
Synopsis: A young bird is captured and learns to adapt to city life.
Opinion: Another firm favourite of mine and I think one of the longest films. I was crying with laughter at some scenes and whole audience thoroughly enjoyed the film. There was a lot going on in the film and the plot moved really quickly and the ending had us all in a fit of giggles! Nicely done!
PENELOPE – DIR. Heta Jäälinoja (Estonia)
Synopsis: A short animation about a messy girl named Penelope.
Opinion: This film was incredibly funny, again the whole audience at Kongs thoroughly enjoyed it (everyone was laughing out loud with some scenes) and then came the end…and if I remember correctly…the whole room went deathly silent. The ending left me with so many questions. My other half turned to me and said “She went through all that cleaning and turns out her husband was messy too” and I told him “but…was that her husband?” I have not stopped questioning that ending and I don’ think I’ll be getting an answer anytime soon! Amazing short!
THE ABSENCE OF EDDY TABLE – DIR. Rune Spaans (Norway)
Synopsis: Based on acclaimed artist Dave Cooper’s work, The Absence of Eddy Table follows bug-eyed, buck-toothed Eddy, as he’s dropped into an exotic world glistening with phallic flowers and libidinous danger. When Eddy meets a mysterious girl, he is forced to face his greatest fear and deepest longing: Will Eddy let desire devour him? A genre-bending horror romance that is sexy, sick, and terrifying… just like falling in love!
Opinion: This was disturbing and mesmerizing and everything in between! Now that I know the synopsis, the film makes a lot more sense but when you watch it without any clue as to what to expect, it’s a massive mindf*ck! I loved the mixture of romance and horror and you do feel for the boy. If you’re easily creeped out though, this is definitely not the film for you!
I thoroughly enjoyed my night and the atmosphere was so warm and friendly. Everyone seemed to know each other and there were people of all ages attending, which was nice. The event organizers were incredibly friendly and easy to approach. I felt incredibly welcomed and I cannot wait to attend more events created by this lovely crew!
Like I said above there were 12 films all together and the other six were also equally amazing however the above definitely stood out for me and I found that they were a firm favourite with the rest of audience. The other six were:
TOUGH – DIR. Jennifer Zheng (UK)
MIRRORS – DIR. Yali Herbet & Lee Dror (Israel)
ALL ROT – DIR. Max Hattler (China)
THE EVENING HER MIND JUMPED OUT OF HER HEAD – DIR. Kim Noce & Shaun Clark (UK)
PERSONAL GROWTH – DIR. Samuel Jacques (Canada)
If you would like to keep up to date with any events coming up held by Cardiff Animation you can visit their website here.
