Fire: An Atmospheric Animated Short Capturing the Horror of Wildfire

As you (may) know, at Kuriositas we like to showcase some of the best student-created animated shorts.  Many, if not most of them, tell stories that are action-heavy, which helps show off the technical prowess of the students.  Fire is something quite difference.  While it certainly covers the elements that the students must show in order to complete their degree, this tells and altogether different story.  As such it is refreshing to see a group of collaborators take such a distinct and different pathway to the norm.  What we get initially is a beautifully rendered series of images of a languid summer’s afternoon, almost as if time has stood still.  It's a perfect summer's day. A cat is our protagonist (if it can be called that) as he meanders around the yard and inside the house. Yet even as he does so, there is a steadily increasing sense of unease that something isn’t quite right.

Of course, the house has been abandoned due to an encroaching fire.  It’s a prescient piece of filmmaking in that respect, as so much of Europe has been impacted by successive heatwaves over the last few months.  As the fire encroaches, its impact is felt. This is an impressive piece of animation, one that had me transfixed from start to finish.  Congratulations to the directors, Baptiste Fraboul, Esther Lamassoure, Julie Le Forban, Valentin Serre, Léna Gittler, and Florent Sabuco of École des Nouvelles Images for producing something so special. Fire was produced by Julien Deparis, and sound design was by Pierre-François.  I would also like to specially mention the soundtrack by Mathis Coopman which superbly catches the atmosphere of the disaster in a very Pink Floydy kinda way, combining with the animation to create something truly cinematic.  No wonder this animated short has won awards!

Watch Fire below.