Bradford Animation Festival-Simon Filliot

On the 13th November I went to the Bradford Animation Festival and went to see a collection of short animations produced by students. My favourite film was 'The Kiosk' by as i loved how the childlike drawn textures and simplistic shapes used complemented the feel good story. However i think that the most impactful animation had to be The Bungled Child [La Ravaudeuse]by Simon Filliot. The film conists of cloth characters and revolves around the story of twins who are born joint at the shoulder so that they have an arm each. They hate being seperated from each other, much to their mother's dispair, but when a travelling salesman comes along the mother pays him to give the children an extra arm each made from a metal hinge. The children hate their new arms and pull them out whilst the travelling salesman is raping the mother. Later the mother finds that the two children have tried to sew themselves back together but have died in the process. Overall the story is very sinister and the characters have very strong personalities even though they are only made from cloth. The corsness of the cloth and the way it is roughly joined together is a reflection of the hard lives of the family and the daily struggles which wear them down. I also think the way lighting is used is particulalry effective. At the beginning when the mother is giving birth the room is lit by a fire. Usually fire signifies warmth and cosiness in a home, but in this case the fire seemed weak, like the coldness was taking over, much like the hardships in the families life take over their happiness. Below is a link to the video which i found on youtube.