The Toronto Animated Image Society presents
WEIRD TALES:
A selection of new animated horror shorts
Various Directors | 2012-2014 | Approx 60mins.
Thursday Oct 30 – 8:00pm
TAIS Studio – 1411 Dufferin St, Unit B
$5 suggested donation / free for TAIS members
Join us after the TAIS Annual General Meeting for a truly psychedelic topography of animated experiments, all tinged with horror for the Halloween season. From folktales to weird science, from slow motion dreamscapes to non-stop 2D assaults, this eclectic and genre-bending selection of independent shorts was curated by TAIS’ Kier-La Janisse, featuring some of the standout shorts from her animation program at this year’s Fantastic Fest.
The screening will be accompanied by seasonal snacks and refreshments.
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THE JUMP
Charles Huettner | USA 2014 | 2.5mins
Pennsylvania-based artist Charles Huettner’s THE JUMP is a beautiful glimpse at a spirit world where two teenagers dabble in visionary experimentation with suddenly tragic results. With a sophisticated Akira-esque score, we watch as these teens’ innocent curiosity leads to a dark tragedy, all the while a red ghost stares empty and indifferent. (Beautiful Decay)
OBVIOUS CHILD
Stephen Irwin | UK 2014 | 12mins
One of the wildest, most richly perverse animators of recent years, UK-based filmmaker Stephen Irwin (MOXIE; THE BLACK DOG’S PROGRESS) returns with this controversial tale of a chain-smoking toddler whose stuffed rabbit helps her get her dead parents’ dismembered limbs into heaven.
SHIFT
Juan Carlos Zaldivar | Spain 2012 | 6mins
SHIFT is constructed of over 10,000 photographs taken over a year and a half, following the life of a character who is born from a tree and whose face is stolen by a wild dog. After wandering the landscape reflecting its environment, looking for home, our character’s vision returns in an unsuspecting turn of events.
LUCKY AND FINNEGAN
Davide DiSaro | Canada 2014 | 9mins
Video and sound artist Davide Di Saro’s incredibly ambitious animated music video for Toronto band Ronley Teper and the Lipliners has a roster of weirdo characters and infernal landscapes to rival a 1930s Fleischer Brothers cartoon.
TWO GHOSTS
Amy Lee Ketchum | USA 2013 | 9mins
Amy Lee Ketchum’s stop-motion short is about the transformation of individuals from naive happiness into melancholic joy. It follows a creature on an Orpheus-type journey to find a disappeared companion. Its finale is a mournful dance in homage to the lost beloved.
RITUAL OF CATHODE RAY TUBE
Mores Zhan | Taiwan | 5mins
RITUAL OF CATHODE RAY TUBE began its life as a multi-screen gallery installation, in which a series of monochrome drawings interact with each other like a live news feed recording of a black magic happening. Hypnotic and awesome.
THE PRESENT
Joe Hsieh | Taiwan 2014 | 15mins
Based on the same ancient folktale that inspired Kihachiro Kawamoto’s DOJOJI TEMPLE (1976), Joe Hsieh’s unsettling film (realized in a striking black/white/red color scheme) tells of a married travelling salesman who stops at a seaside inn for the night, only to have the landlord’s strange daughter fall in love with him instantly. But when he rejects her, she vows revenge.
