The Debutante
2022 · 8m · UK
Directed by Elizabeth Hobbs
Genres: animation, comedy, experimental
Tones: absurdist, humorous, surreal, whimsical
Based on Leonora Carrington's surrealist short story, a spirited young woman persuades a hyena from London Zoo to take her place at a debutante dinner dance held in her honour, unleashing chaos on polite 1930s society.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Leonora Carrington's hyena-takes-her-place-at-the-debutante-ball story turned into ink-and-collage rostrum animation. Carrington's source material plus Hobbs's mixed-media chaos — this is the rare adaptation that the form actually deserves.
Hobbs adapting Leonora Carrington's surrealist short story through ink, paint, and collage — this is the British animation tradition of Joanna Quinn and Suzie Templeton at its most committed. BFI-supported, Carrington Estate-sanctioned; a properly authorized act of literary devotion.
Elizabeth Hobbs' hand-crafted ink-paint-and-collage under a rostrum camera for a 1930s Leonora Carrington story is a perfect medium-source match — analog mixed-media for surrealist literary anarchy. 8:43, BFI-supported, 695 likes; the materiality is the homage.
Reviews
A vibrant, humorous and deeply enjoyable work that displays Hobbs' signature visual style with distinctive flair, making it a joy to watch on numerous levels.
An experimental tour de force that takes the uptight world of 1930s debutante society and imbues it with an impish sense of wild freedom.
Festivals
- Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2022
- SXSW Film Festival 2023, Animated Short Jury Award
- Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2023
- British Animation Awards 2023, Best Short