To Bird or Not to Bird
2023 · 9m · Spain
Directed by Martín Romero
In a world where birds have adopted the same habits, worries, and unhealthy obsessions as humans, this dialogue-free animated short delivers a kaleidoscopic and satirical view of contemporary society through the tragicomic and grotesque experiences of its avian characters.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Dialogue-free 2D animation where birds stand in for modern humans by a Spanish graphic novelist — the social-satire-via-birds register can either be sharp or insufferably twee. With Romero's comics background, leaning sharp. Curious.
Romero's graphic-novelist background gives his dialogue-free avian-satire a distinctive illustrative line, and using birds-as-humans (rather than humans-as-birds) inverts the lazy allegory. Nine minutes; visually specific.
Dialogue-free Spanish 2D animation from graphic novelist Martín Romero — birds-as-modern-humans satire grounded in a comics illustrator's drawing hand is unusual for Spanish animation, and the trailer's 4.7K-view footprint feels modest for what's clearly a developed visual style. Curious about the cut.