My elder daughter, who likes to instigate odd internet searches, asked me to do a search for "mechanical world" this afternoon, and what came up? The Animal Book, a short animation written and directed by Natalie Hinchley and Chris Randall and produced by Second Home Productions (who, by the way, have a very cool animated logo), looks to be a very interesting little film indeed.
Here is the synopsis from the website:
The Animal Book is the story of two sisters who exist in a threatening world of giant machinery; a city of cog-mechanized buildings, where cars cruise shark-like through the streets. Even their sun is a giant lightbulb and the moon a stud-riveted mirror. When a snatched retreat to the sisters' broken playground is interrupted by a flying book, one of them is offered an opportunity to escape the world for a better life.
I don't have access to the full film, but the trailer is this amazing vision of a world where someone has gone nuts with the riveting gun. ScreenWM describes the film thusly:
"Polly and Dill live in a mechanical world, devoid of animals for benefit of the great machine. But when the mysterious Animal Book appears into their lives, things are bound to get interesting."
Which, of course, piques my interest doubly. If I were back in the US of A, I would be chasing the thing down as we speak. It is hard to tell from the website when this went to Cannes: this year? Last year? The year before? Alas, IMDb says nothing about it, so I will I rely on you-all to find a copy and tell me more about this enigmatic gem.
(This just in: Chris Randall, the film's co-director, kindly wrote to me and updated this information. He says: "In answer to your Cannes query, it actually went last year. The website is due to be updated imminently with more details about the project." And apparently it has done the rounds of the festivals since then. So I'm a little behind the curve, but it's still worth checking out. And they sound like nice people.)
And lastly, courtesy of Youtube, you can look at the trailer right this very moment!
4 comments:
I just discovered your blog, via Gimbel Lock, and it's already a treat (though I've only read the Animal Book post and glanced around a bit). I love this kind of thing, and look forward to squirreling down into the pages to see what you've discovered.
Thanks so much - and it's always good to find another good blog, too!
This looks ever so cute. I love that book with wings, sprouting all sorts of creatures.
Nice film - Looks very Button/Svankmajer/Metropolis-esque. Worth hunting down on DVD. Here in Bristol we ahve a great animation festival, but the last two years I've missed it completely due to business trips :-(
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