This Is a Story Without a Plan
2023 · 8m · USA
Directed by Cassie Shao
Genres: animation, experimental
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, surreal
Two characters witness a constant explosion rippling through different fragments of their lives, evoking the uncomfortable feeling of spectating disaster while lacking any sense of control. A highly experimental animation blending digital characters with 3D-rendered objects and painted abstract backgrounds.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Mixed-media animation where emotions drive the structure instead of narrative — won the Latham at Ann Arbor, which is a real signal of weird intentionality. This is the kind of formally restless work I show up for.
Cassie Shao's mixed-media palimpsest of cel paint, oil, and 3D — with the Ann Arbor Film Festival's Latham Award already in hand — operates in the same emotional-architecture register as Don Hertzfeldt's It's Such a Beautiful Day. Letting feeling structure form rather than narrative is harder than it sounds.
Cel paint, oil, watercolor, pen etchings, and 3D layered together, with a 5.1 mix by One Thousand Birds and percussion recorded at Riot Drum Studio — the sound design is engineered to do as much narrative work as the image. Best Film at Fantoche and the Latham Award at Ann Arbor is the right festival circuit for this kind of structural experimentation.
Reviews
An oddly comforting yet deeply satisfying whirlwind of color, texture, and movement.
A highly experimental piece in which emotions take precedence over conventional narrative structure, allowing the visual style to roam freely and unpredictably.
Festivals
- Fantoche International Animation Film Festival 2024, Best Film
- Ann Arbor Film Festival 2024, Barbara Aronofsky Latham Award for Emerging Experimental Video Artist
- ZINEBI International Festival of Documentary and Short Film 2024
- Slamdance Film Festival