The 18th Annual Animation Show of Shows

 The Animation Show of Shows, a night of independent award-winning animated shorts, is back in Providence this week, this year at Cable Car Cinema. The Show of Shows, curated and presented by human cartoon, Ron Diamond, is now in its 18th year. This year’s lineup features 16 shorts each night, coming from student groups and independent studios in the US, Belgium, Canada, Korea, Russia, among others. Blog went opening night, making our cold, cement hearts grow a few sizes—keep reading for recaps of some of the shorts we saw! Stems — (Ainslie Hendersen)The entire short reminded us of a trippy, vintage Toy Story. Inanimate objects came to life through this stop motion animation in graceful and unexpected ways, accompanied by an incredible soundtrack that warrants another visit to Cable Car. Stop motion stands as an independent category in the broad spectrum of animated films… unsurprisingly, we were thoroughly impressed by the lifelike movements presented in this film.Shift — (Cecilia Puglesi & Yijun Liu)Ever think about how you would interact with another version of yourself? You will after watching Shift. The short initially draws you into a majestic forest scene, with luscious green trees and a big blue sky, eventually zoning in on a woman in a black dress. She looks uptight, worried. The woman suddenly encounters what appears to be her stunt double, the polar opposite of her tense demeanor. Eventually, you realize that the two may not be so different after all. Also, shout out to the insane 3-D shading in this film.Pearl — (Patrick Osborne)This short was originally produced for Google Spotlight Stories as a mobile VR animation. Modified into a theatrical short, Pearl is a touching story that follows a girl and her dad as they drive around the country playing music from place to place. The dad decides it’s time to settle down, and the girl later starts a band and takes the car with her for her own journey. Set to a sweet song, we watch this story from the center of the car the whole time.Crin-crin — (Iris Alexandre)This one was so funny, I’m still cackling about it. Set to a song by Zakouska of the same name, this paper-style 2D animation follows a bandit duo rabbit and racoon as they scam a celebrity horse out of its tail. Disguised as paparazzi, they make off with a narcissistic horse’s beautiful flowing tail—resulting in a chase scene that speeds up faster and faster, like Zakouska’s song. The horse and its hella high bodyguard donkey chase the bandits through a forest, off a cliff, in the ocean, and through a blizzard.Mirror — (Chris Ware, John Kuramoto, Ira Glass)Narrated by Ira Glass and co-produced by “This American Life,” Mirror highlights the relationship between a mother and her daughter in an extremely candid and intimate way (think podcast as an animation). Mixed with honest humor and bright visuals, the short led us through an instance in which the mother was a little “too honest” with her daughter. It emphasizes the growing pains that any mother-daughter relationship experiences as the two grow and learn from each other.Piper — (Alan Barillaro)Not sure if anything has ever caused as many overflowing tears of joy and love and optimism as this one short, about a baby sandpiper trying to find his way on a sandy beach. This lil baby just wants some nomz, but keeps getting knocked down by a pesky wave (the tears are streaming just remembering this scene). In general, the entire film was just a beautiful frame by frame masterpiece that above all, captured the anatomic accuracy of the birds’ movements as well.Bøygen — (Kristian Pedersen)This abstract animation by Norwegian animator Kristian Pedersen interpreted the myth and concept of the Bøygen, which Pedersen describes as “something by the way of its very existence prevents you from achieving your goals.” In the preceding ‘making of’ clip, Pedersen explained that in Norse mythology, the Bøygen was sometimes depicted as a coiling snake, which made its way into the film in abstract, morphing patterns and repeated composition, set to music that intensifies in tension. Afternoon Class — (Seoro Oh)The entire crowd was doubled over laughing at this one (at least we were). There is no better way to describe what it feels like to sit in a smelly Wilson classroom at 3 p.m. listening to a lecture that has no relevance to your life than this animated short. Guaranteed or your money back. About a Mother — (Dina Velikovskaya)This fable was about a mother that always tries to meet her sons’ needs, even after they grow up. Animated in black and white, a mom with extremely long hair takes care of her three sons, using it to cover them from rain, to fish, and to play jump rope with them. As the sons abruptly grow up and go off to work—on a ship, helicopter, and train—the mom continues to protect them, cutting off her long hair to make them a fishing net, parachute, and winter clothes. It’s very sweet, and was followed by a short ‘making of’ clip with the animator, Dina Velikovskaya, who described it as a tribute to a mother’s love.Exploozy — (Joshua Gunn, Trevor Piecham, & John McGowan)Set in the convention of the tech company “explainer” video, Exploozy is a satirical startup that uses natural language processing, algorithms, and ~the cloud~ to create professional animations for free—taking out the time, money, and creativity that storytelling currently requires. They nail the tech startup vibe.Corpus — (Marc Héricher)This was a really cool and dramatic CG Rube Goldberg machine, with muscles, organs, and bones forming links in the chain reaction alongside balls, fuses, pendulums, and springs. The mood and style of the clip reminded me of The Imitation Game. Manoman — (Simon Cartwright)Objectively, what the heck. This dark short uses rod puppets (think of Sesame Street characters but teeny), to follow a man undergoing “primal scream therapy.” The main character is encouraged by a crazy man (either a separate character or a visual manifestation of the character’s primal instincts?) to break out and wreak havoc, quickly spiraling into violence and many bodily fluids. This one was weird and my life could have gone on perfectly fine without seeing it, though it hilariously featured a 30-person strong “Scream Choir” in their credits. They did their job well.All Their Shades — (Chloé Alliez)Told using characters formed out of found objects, all with light switch heads, this short is a poem of why a woman loves women, poking fun of stereotypes and cliches. It’s in a very whimsical style, with imaginative ways these founds objects are repurposed into the characters and sets.  Also including the shorts “Blue” (Daniela Sherer), “Last summer in the garden” (Bekky O’Neil), and “Waiting for the New Year” (Vladimir Leschiov), the Animation Show of Shows runs for two more nights at Cable Car Cinema, Wednesday Oct. 5 at 7pm and Thursday Oct 6 at 5pm and 9:30pm. Check out the Animation Show of Shows site for more information and Cable Car for tickets. Image via, via , and via.