Freelancer
2023 · 8m · UK
Directed by Rosco 5
Tones: darkly comic, melancholic, tender
A 42-year-old British-Iranian freelance artist and single father navigates the humiliations of self-employment and middle age, blending live-action with animation drawn in his own real-life comic art style.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
42-year-old British-Iranian artist combining live-action with his own actual sketchbook art. Sitcom-pilot tasting-menu energy, which the description openly admits — fine as comedy, less interesting as film.
Babak Ganjei's actual sketchbook style integrated with live-action, designed as both short and sitcom-pilot taster — Rosco 5 (the directing collective) honors the Fleabag-adjacent self-deprecating register. Solid premise; whether it sings in eight minutes is the question.
Seamlessly blending live-action with animation drawn in Babak Ganjei's own real-life sketchbook style — that's an integrated authorial signature, and designing it as both standalone short and sitcom-pilot taster is smart production. Fleabag/Louie comp telegraphs the comedic voice.
Reviews
The exposition is perfectly modulated, our connection to the premise and character is instantaneous, and nearly every joke lands.
Very precisely skewers the modern freelancer experience with a big helping of irony.