SHORTS: GIRAF CURATED ANIMATED DOC

Sometimes the best way to capture reality is to draw it yourself. These non-fiction shorts show inner struggles, forgotten history, modern heroes and childhood memories with the creative flair you only get from animation.

TOYHOOD

United Kingdom, 2020, 3:40 min, Director Zoë Hutber

A stop-motion mockumentary about toys and the children they "work" with. Made loosely in response to Brexit, TOYHOOD combines stop-motion and toy-like puppets with unscripted interviews from internationals living in Britain today.

 

BEYOND NOH

United States, 2020, 3 min. no dialogue, Director Patrick Smith

BEYOND NOH rhythmically animates 3,475 individual masks from all over the world, beginning with the distinctive masks of the Japanese Noh theater and continuing on a cultural journey through ritual, performance, utility, and politics.

 

IN THE SHADOW OF THE PINES

Canada, 2020, 8 min, Director Anne Koizumi

Inspired by the filmmaker’s own upbringing with her immigrant dad, IN THE SHADOW OF THE PINES explores difficult father-daughter relationships.

 

BLOOMERS

United Kingdom, 2019, 10 min, Director Samantha Moore 

Animated fabric brings the story of a lingerie factory in Manchester to life.

 

MODERN QUEER HEROES

United Kingdom, 2020, 5 min, Director Kate Jessop

Who are the queer heroes walking amongst us now or in recent times? A celebration of LGBTQ+ figures who have helped push forward culture and society.

 

STORIES IN PLACE: DESERT ISLAND COMICS

United States, 2020, 5 min, Director Case Jernigan

Inspired by Desert Island Comics, the iconic Brooklyn shop now indefinitely closed, this cut paper animation speaks to the connective power of comic books.

 

LA GRANDE ONDA

Italy, 2020, 15 min, Director Francesco Tortorella

Told through the life and death of a common man, LA GRANDE ONDA explores one of the most brutal and powerful criminal organizations in the world: Italy's the 'Ndrangheta mafia.

 

ALL HER DYING LOVERS

Germany / Czech Republic, 2020, 6 min. Directors Anna Benner & Eluned Zoe Aiano 

A nurse, a Nazi and a fish: an animated legend from WWII Czechoslovakia.

 

APHASIA OR (IT FELL UPON MY MIND)

United States, 2018, 3 min, Director Brynne McGregor

Using hand-painted rotoscoping and digital animation, APHASIA OR (IT FELL UPON MY MIND) documents the voices of seven individuals living with aphasia.

 

MAKE IT SOUL

France, 2018, 15 min, Director Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo

In Chicago 1965 the Regal Theater hosts James Brown and Solomon Burke, two monuments of Soul music. Backstage, everyone's under pressure, but in 1960s America, both men know their music has unexpected powers.