A stop-motion puppet animation tale of a farmer’s encounter with a robot; a strange phenomenon happening in an isolated farmhouse; the mystery of an unusual noise that scares animals in a jungle; and the tale of girl who alone is born round in a village full of quadratic people are the newest additions to the ‘Cinema for Children’ segment of the fifth Gulf Film Festival.
GFF 2012 will screen nine films in the popular children’s cinema showcase, renowned for bringing quality, culture-crossing tales to local audiences.
Making its world premiere is Fat, from France, directed by Sebastien De Oliveira Bispo, Gary Fouchy and Yohann Auroux Bernard. The film with no dialogues is set in an isolated farm, which is struck by a strange phenomenon, which changes the life of the farmer. He is now forced to adapt to the new world.
Rumours by Frits Standaert from France/Belgium makes its Middle East premiere at GFF. Also without dialogues, the film is about a strange noise that scares the living daylights out of the jungle animals. One after another, the animals panic; the rumour spreads and the behaviour of the animals becomes increasingly irrational.
Farmer and the Robot, an entry from Iran, directed by Abdollah Ali-Morad, makes its GCC premiere. A spaceship crashes in a farm and a robot steps out of it. The encounter of the farmer and the robot forms the crux of the movie, which was screened at other international short film festivals.
The dilemma of Mathilda who is born round in a village where everyone else is quadratic is the theme of I Am Round, directed by Mario Adamson from Sweden. Making its UAE premiere at GFF, the film explores how Mathilda tries to adapt to the ‘square standards’ but without success. Her life changes when she meets Alex, who is just like her – round. The film was screened at Berlinale 2011 and won the best animation award at the European Short Debuts Competition at New Horizon IFF 2011, among other honours.
The other children’s films at GFF 2012 include: Taiwanese entry Divine Intervention, by director Yen-Chi Tseng, about two turtles making a living as street performers; The Cow That Endeavoured to Look for Her Spots, an animated short by France’s Tristan Francia, revolving around V, a cow who enjoys nothing more than watching trains go by; Danny Lynch’s narrative short The Washing Machine from Canada, about a grieving seven-year-old’s tryst with time travel; The Brightest Star, by Portugal’s Joana Santos and Andre Matos, which also tackles a boy’s attempt to reach his dead mother through a spaceship; and
A Shadow of Blue, an animated short by France’s Carlos Lascano, about a little girl who rises above the reality around her to find an unexpected freedom in fantasy.
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