This collection of family-friendly short films was a highlight of Nottingham’s online Nottstopping Festival…
One of the things we’re missing most about Broadway Cinema is its abundance of film fests, featuring great selections of independently-produced gems. Its doors may still be closed for now, but this weekend, Nottingham’s favourite picturehouse joined the Nottstopping lineup by presenting a series of quirky animated shorts. Let’s unpack the seven films Flatpack Festival had to offer…
Fear of Flying
Director: Conor Finnegan
Flatpack put its best foot first, with the story of a bird overcoming his fright of flight. This premise is a familiar one, but it’s presented in a unique way full of innovation and offbeat humour. Finnegan mixes puppetry with stop-motion and a touch of traditional animation for things like the characters’ eyes and limbs (think Real Life Doodles), resulting in a visual style reminiscent of a Wes Anderson animated feature. It’s really funny and overall a joy to watch.
Spring Jam
Director: Ned Wenlock
For the wild deer at Wollaton Hall, rutting season actually takes place in Autumn rather than Spring – but that’s not the only creative liberty this short film takes. In Spring Jam, the bucks’ attractiveness is measured by the largest choir of birds they can assemble on their antlers, meaning our short-horned protagonist has some compensating to do. This tale is told via a cute story-book art-style, and ends with an amusing solution involving an encounter with a hunter.
Subway Train
Director: Garett Davis
Featuring a song by Grammy-nominated children’s musical duo The Pop Ups, this short is essentially a trippy music video. A man gets on a train, only to be surrounded by dancing anthropomorphic animals, and there’s no semblance of a plot beyond that. Rather, the entertainment comes from the bizarre squash-and-stretch techniques afforded by the sketchy art style. The whole thing feels like a loving tribute to the weird and wonderful public service videos of days gone by.
The Living Things
Director: Phil Davis
Another music video, this time for indie rock group The Spinto Band.The Living Things stars blobs that merge and shapeshift into different creatures as they sing. As fluid in its approach as the previous entry, it’s an impressive feat of experimental animation thanks to its smooth transitions between animals. Davis’ film is set apart from the others in how it’s the only one to feature a live-action segment, which uses stop-motion to depict the band members floating as they dance.
Workout
Director: Joe Wood
Presented by Aardman but deviating from its iconic claymation, Workout feels humorously pertinent in a time where the likes of Joe Wicks and Mr Motivator are jumping around on our TV screens every morning. Resembling the characters featured in the Dumb Ways to Die shorts, these jellybean-like figures end up in a jam of their own after a trip to the gym gets chaotic. This film is a reminder: work hard, but try not to overdo it!
Bird & Rhino
Directors: Jason Rabinowitz & Jacob Stein
The Pop Ups appear again as the directors and stars of Flatpack’s penultimate film. The Microsoft Paint-esque art in this entry harkens back to the viral YouTube cartoons of the 2000s (anyone remember The Duck Song?) and brings to life a song from their 2015 album Great Pretenders Club. For some reason – most likely none at all – the rhino is obsessed with stomping out forest fires, belting out loud musical numbers in the process.
Gunther
Director: Erick Oh
In this final short, Pixar animator Erick Oh gives us a crash course in the limitless possibilities of animation. Gunther begins with the titular sausage man emerging from a pond, wearing a frog as a wetsuit. As you can probably gather, it’s best not to attempt describing this one and instead just asking you to enjoy the madness for yourself. It made for an absurd conclusion to a really wacky festival.
The short films from Flatpack Festival were shown online on Sunday 24th May at 1pm. Watch them here
By Jamie Morris