Amen – These Porkers aren’t Ready for the Pot

There comes a time in a young pig’s life when human eyes notice his increasing dimensions and decide enough is enough – this porker is ready for the pot. So it is with the young pig featured in Amen, a graduate thesis film by students at École des Nouvelles Images.  Although he almost gets the chop, his ingenuity – not to mention a somewhat revelatory experience in the monastery’s church – will save him and his friends from sizzling.  Or will it? You had better watch the animated short below to find out!

I have no idea if this film was inspired by pig escapes, such as the famous Tamworth Two, but as our porcine pals have a habit of getting away from their human overlords, this could have been inspired by any number of tales of daring escape in the real world.

Amen has enjoyed an impressive festival run, picking up awards at the Tirana International Film Festival 2025 in Albania, VIEW Conference 2025 in Italy, the Internationales Trickfilm-Festival Stuttgart in Germany, Cyber Sousa – Xiamen International Animation Festival in China, The Great Canadian Horror Film Festival, Curtas Vila do Conde – Festival Internacional de Cinema in Portugal, and La Guarimba Film Festival in Italy, among many others. The film was directed by Orphée Coutier, Bettina Demarty, Kimie Maingonnat, Laurène Perego, Louise Poulain, and Avril Zundel, with an original score by Nicolas Cornil (MAAAV). Production was overseen by Julien Deparis for École des Nouvelles Images, with sound mixing by Pierre-François Renouf.