Miramare
2010 · 8m · Switzerland
Directed by Michaela Müller
Tones: contemplative, dark, melancholic
On the Mediterranean coast, two Swiss children on holiday with their family wander past a fence separating tourists from the refugee camps beyond — a brief, frightening encounter with the reality that their leisure space borders another world entirely.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Paint-on-glass animation, Mediterranean refugee subject, Cannes Cinéfondation. The technique is genuinely rare and the political weight is real. Eight minutes, Swiss Film Award for Best Animation. This is the kind of short I am inclined to take seriously.
Paint-on-glass animation in the lineage of Caroline Leaf, where the fluid technique itself argues against the literal borders being depicted — a Cinéfondation prize-winner whose method is its politics.
The paint-on-glass technique is working in exact service of the subject — borders dissolve and re-form with each brush stroke, making Müller's graduation film a textbook case of form mirroring content.
Festivals
- Cannes Film Festival 2010
- Animateka Festival 2010, Grand Prix
- Fantoche International Animation Film Festival 2010, Best Swiss Animation
- Message to Man Film Festival 2010, Best Debut Film (Centaur Award)
- Brooklyn Film Festival 2011, Spirit Award
- Swiss Film Prize 2011, Best Animation