Oct 25, 2019

Five New Short Films by Miyu, Nikita Diacourt, Pera Ade, Chung Dahi and Others (Exclusive)

Miyu, a French production company that has produced some of the most impressive animated shorts in recent years, has been exclusively interviewed by Cartoon Brew to reveal some of its upcoming films.

Cartoon Brew presents five of the company's projects. Supela . Several directors, including Adeju (“Nighthawk,” “Balls”) and Nikita Diacourt (“Fest,” “Ugly”), have been mentioned several times on this site. Others have also won accolades and awards around the world: Taisei Chung (“Movements,” “The Empty”), Atsushi Wada (“A Pig's Eye,” “The Great Rabbit”), and Rachel Gutgertz ("A Love Letter to the One I Made Up ).

Founded in 2009 by Emmanuel-Alain Reynal, Mille has established itself as an exciting player in independent animation. Reynal and his production partner Pierre Bossalon have eclectic taste and a keen eye for up-and-coming talent; in 2017, the company moved into distribution, winning numerous awards and being nominated for an Academy Award. The company specializes in short films, but is now branching out into features and series.

“Short films, especially animation, are a real laboratory of style,” Reynal tells Cartoon Brew. “Most of our projects start with interactions I initiate on social media, at film festivals, animation schools, etc. I reach out to the filmmakers and start a discussion about their work and whether or not they are looking for a producer.”

Each film will be presented with comments from the director and director Reynal, along with exclusive video material. All of these films are in development, with the exception of “Steak House,” which is currently in production. Partner studios include.

Deacourt: The film is based on Youtube's self-help culture. If you search for “how to do a backflip” or “how to improve your backflip” you will find videos typical of this culture. In this film, a digital avatar studies humans doing backflips on Youtube and tries to learn backflips through machine learning.

The film is a reflection on the ambitions of humans and computers and where we stand today. Developed with programmer Max Schneider, you can see the first test [above] called Fighting Gravity, produced at Viborg's Open Workshop.

Raynal I have been following Nikita's work avidly since “Ugly” and wrote to him some months ago about working together. There he suggested that I co-produce Backflip, another crazy film by this unpredictable and brilliant director taking on the world of artificial intelligence.

Co-producer Nikita Diacourt (Germany)

Click here for Diacourt's Vimeo page.

.adež: Steakhouse is a short film about the unseen psychological violence in the relationship of a longtime couple. The film again uses the multiplanar collage technique used in the previous film Nighthawk. With its play of light and shadow, blurring, and unusual ambiguity of space, this technique is a very effective way to intrude into the psychological states of the protagonists.

I met Reynal Spera at the last Clermont-Ferrand through Olivier Catrin, with whom I am producing “Steak House” at Mille. This film is a scathing drama about the psychological violence inflicted on women. Knowing her talent, the film will be powerful, claustrophobic, chilling, and show complete mastery.

Co-producers: Finta Studio (Slovenia), Fabian&Fred (Germany)

.adež's Vimeo page is here.

Wada In his previous works, Wada has often depicted ritualistic movements in which multiple people (and sometimes animals) form a circle and move in unison. In this new work, I would like to explore not only the movement but also the meaning and role of the “ritual” itself. This project has been in the planning for over 10 years and we decided to tackle it with this offer.

Reynal It has been a dream of mine to work with Atsuhito since I discovered Great Rabbit in 2012, and through a fruitful collaboration with New Deer's Nobuaki Doi, we have produced several co-productions with Japan. These include a surreal and absurdist film poem by this master of movement and feeling.

Co-producer: New Deer (Japan)

Check out Wada's “In a Pig's Eye” on Vimeo.

The setting for “Gutgarts Via Dolorosa” is Jerusalem. This chaotic city is sacred to everyone, yet destructive to itself. In this animated documentary, I revisit my teenage years growing up wandering the streets of Jerusalem.

Through print-based animation inspired by audio and video footage recorded on site, the film weaves an allegorical Jerusalem night from fragments of those memories. I confess my sins, discuss what was holy and what was sinful, what I should have said and what I should have done.

When Reynal Rachel proposed that we produce her first professional film, we were immediately taken with Via Dolorosa. Through the singular medium of animated documentary, Via Dolorosa takes us on an introspective journey through the daily life of a teenager lost underground in Jerusalem due to adult folly. Rachel will undoubtedly become a major force in independent animation.

Co-producer: Late Love Production (Denmark)

Click here for Gutgarts' Vimeo page.

Chung In my previous work, “Movements,” I was particularly interested in screens and windows. They show what is outside and at the same time reflect what is inside, or vice versa. And I am still interested in the question, “What is an image? In my new work, I want to comment on the screen and the image it projects, using that very medium.

Raynal I was already a big fan of Dahy's work when she proposed producing my next film. I am excited to collaborate with this great artist on her new project, which is inspired by windows and endless repeating screens.

Co-Producer: Between the Pictures, Korea, in negotiations with the National Film Board of Canada

See Chung's Vimeo page here.

In addition to the above shorts, Biyu is currently Paul Driesen, Tal Kantor, Ryo Orikasa, Michelle & Uri Cranotto, Alice Say, Tom Brown, Renaig Le Moine, Sawako Kabuki, Magda Guidi & Mara Celli, Nicolas Capens, Masanobu Hiraoka, Camille Hauteuart, and others to develop or produce short films.

Wada's comments were translated from Japanese and Reynal and John's comments from French by the author.