Rules of Play
Merlin Flügel
7:34 | 2018
The line between ritual and play is shattered in this short from German artist Merlin Flügel. Unsettling masks and inexplicable movements set the stage for an epic, absurd playground battle.
Tears of Inge
Alisi Telengut
4:21 | 2013
Based on a fable spoken and sung by Telengut’s grandmother, who used to live a nomadic life on Mongolian grasslands. Thickly layered paints and pastels on a single piece of paper create rich textures and shifting depth adding, to the otherworldly nature of the piece.
The making-of is a must-read. Telengut’s The Fourfold was a GIRAF16 selection.
Kosmonaut
Kaspar Jancis
11:38 | 2019
Jancis has been creating acclaimed animation since the late 1990s, and his most recent short (a GIRAF16 selection) has the confidence of an animation veteran. An emotionally complex look at an aging cosmonaut.
Look-See
Daniel Savage
1:08 | 2016
Like his GIRAF16 selection Igneous, Savage’s Look-See doesn’t waste any time working through its ideas. Strange geometries an cosmic eyes create a feeling of insignificance, restriction, transformation and freedom, all in the space of a minute or so.
Bonus: This blog post goes into the making of the short over a two-month vacation.
국민체조 “National Gymnastics”
Gyuri Cloe Lee
4:21 | 2017
If National Gymnastics seems impenetrable, it’s meant to be that way—the film is “not meant to be interpreted but rather experienced visually and audibly, as if you were in a slow car ride back to your childhood home.” Roll down the windows and take it all in.
Fall
Ollie Magee
3:22 | 2016
There’s a lot of variety in Ollie Magee’s rough-hewn art style—enough that you might not realize this short, previous Mixtape selection La Façade, and festival favourite Nod. Wink. Horse. all come from the same creator—but all are captivating in their own unique ways.
Killing Time
Camille Guillot, Fanny Hagdahl Sörebo, Aleksandra Krechman, Sarah Naciri, Morgane Ravelonary, Valentine Zhang
4:47 | 2019
Equal parts folklore and The Cat Came Back, this student film from Gobelins tackles anxiety over aging and the passage of time with a distinctly cute, cartoonish flair.
We also wrote about it as a Monday Short.
Aperture
Emanuele Kabu
2:27 | 2018
A warning on this one, as the flickering may trigger seizures. A journey through the artist’s hometown coupled with a window into his imagination makes for a complex portrait of person and place.
Just a Small
Na Kyung Kim
4:41 | 2019
It’s a mural, a collection of tiles, and an undersea tale about an eel wanting to become something more. Beautifully drawn, but the highlight might just be the glimpses it gives of how it all came together.
Yin
Nicolas Fong
10:30 | 2018
It’s about time that this winner of multiple awards at GIRAF13 in 2017 made its way to Vimeo. A Monday Shorts pick back in 2019, Fong’s film mixes mythic underpinnings and Escher-esque geometry with an epic sense of pacing into a memorable animated experience.