The Family Portrait
2023 · 15m · France, Croatia, Serbia
Directed by Lea Vidaković
Tones: contemplative, dark, humorous
Set in the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the eve of World War I, a quiet Sunday afternoon in an aristocratic home is disrupted when Andras' brother Zoltan arrives unannounced with his enormous twelve-member family, triggering a domestic upheaval that mirrors the empire's impending collapse.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Stop-motion puppets reenacting the collapse of an empire through a family lunch — that's the kind of overcooked metaphor that gives me hope. Dialogue-free Austro-Hungarian doom, count me in.
Vidakovic's puppet theatre channels the Quay Brothers and Jiri Barta with rigorous period detail, allegorizing imperial collapse through the controlled implosion of a single drawing room. The trailer alone confirms the textural conviction of the puppets and an intelligent compositional eye.
Stop-motion period puppets carrying an empire's collapse without a word of dialogue — the kind of craft choice that demands every gesture do double duty. Trailer page only shows me 39 seconds and 217 views, but the no-dialogue parallel structure on Austro-Hungarian puppets is a swing I want to see executed.
Reviews
A visually magnetic and intellectually permeating film.
A quietly tantalizing film that makes us favor watching a real family portrait.
Festivals
- World Festival of Animated Films Varna 2023, Grand Prix
- MORC Stop-Motion Animation Festival Tokyo 2023, Grand Prize
- CINANIMA – International Animated Film Festival 2023, Jury Prize
- Tricky Women/Tricky Realities Festival Vienna 2024, Tricky Realities Award
- Ismailia International Film Festival 2024, Best Animation Film
- Berlin International Short Film Festival 2023
- Ottawa International Animation Festival 2023
- Animafest Zagreb 2023
- DOK Leipzig 2023
- Animatou Geneva 2024, Jury Mention