Two gay men struggle with depression in a ruined environment, and a botanical glassblower mourns his wife. “Flora Borealis,” directed by Casey Friedman, is a striking animated film that uses a post-apocalyptic setting to explore themes of destruction and perseverance. The young couple survives in a dilapidated high-rise building living off fast food hamburgers. One of the men has his sights set on escape while the other has lost all hope. The recounting of an old story about a sad artist and a powerful prince in a faraway land delivers colorful imagery and unexpected resonance. Friedman’s film was made through the Jacob Burns Film Center’s “Creative Culture," a vital fellowship program that has supported an impressive slate of emerging talent. -KA.
Director, Editor, Animator: Casey Friedman. Cast: Matthew Corr, Jackson Anthony, Jeorge Bennett Watson, Sam Swanson, Mark Dessaix. Director of Photography: Jake DeNicola. Producer: Casey Friedman, Sean Weiner.
A surreal, scattershot story of fatherhood, the cycle of life, consumerism, and giving people what they ask for. “Bobby Fish,” directed by Peter Wagner, is a one-of-a-kind oddity bouncing between perspectives— from a father, to a son, to a fish, to an evil toy company — all held together with a u...
In this striking avant-garde animation by Cassie Shao, we begin in a room where a group of four people sit around a table and reflect on the question, “who did it?” Focusing on the sensory and dreamlike, the film offers free-flowing vignettes that resist easy comprehension. Through its abstract ...
A colorful animated tale of a one-eyed woman and the guilt she feels after destroying her home planet. “Starshine Mountain,” directed by Corrinne James, is a wonderfully imaginative fairy tale / creation myth that begins with a cataclysmic series of events. Odette is a scientist on Earth who one ...
