Cover Your Eyes, Children! Here Comes Lange Wapper

If you happen to pass by the historic medieval fortress of Het Steen in Antwerp, Belgium the chances are very likely you will come across a statue.  A real double-take statue. Or even a triple-take statue.  However many times you eyes are drawn to it, this is one statue that demands your attention. Created in 1963 by Belgium sculptor Alber Poets, the sculpture represents a legendary figure in Flemish folklore, the crafty and mischievous giant called Long Whopper.  Sorry, Lange Wapper.  Dubious translations aside, he is certainly a big boy.

Externsteine: The Star Stones of Lippe

A few kilometers from the north-western German city of Dermold in the Lippe region of the country, there is a highly unusual rock formation. In an area otherwise devoid of large rocks, the soaring, slender columns of Externsteine stand out as they rise sharply and with no little majesty from the surrounding landscape. Little wonder that the site has been attracting curious visitors for thousands of years.

Image Credit Flickr User Synaxonog

The five standing sandstone pillars have been ornamented over the millennia by human hand.  Although the name usually translates as stones of the ridge, many see these huge columns more romantically as star stones, a place resonant with ancient mysticism and ritual.  Yet the true origins of the star stones can be discovered through geology.

The Red Witch

Mars is slowly being terraformed.  As the planet slowly comes to life a geologist wanders the surface of the once barren planet, seeking answers.  Yet as the planet’s human-driven evolution outpaces her, she becomes myth.  The Red Witch is Aron Bothman’s fourth year film for the CalArts Character Animation program, made using a combination of stop-motion, CG, and drawn techniques.

My Father, Excalibur and Me

If you don’t mind animators playing fast and loose with much-loved mythology then you will find My Father, Excalibur and Me most entertaining.  In fact it is also the mischievous way that it usurps familiar animation tropes that make it such a joy to watch.  It was made by a group of students at Isart Digital, something that makes this very accomplished animation even more special than it already is.

Bogeyman

When you were a child, were you ever told that the bogeyman would come and get you if you were naughty? This short and incredibly dark, animated, fairy tale by Flipbook centers on a modern re-imagining of the mythical bogeyman that has in many cultures been used by adults to scare children into compliance and submission. This would make a great, spine-tingling start to a full feature…

Origin

This didn’t make it online in time for the recent St Patrick’s Day celebrations (which would have been the ideal date to share this with you) but here it is nonetheless.  Origin tells the (visually metaphorical) tale of a young man, who due to Ireland’s straightened circumstances, has decided to leave the country in search of pastures new.  Yet when he realizes at the airport that his passport is still in his flat the dash back to retrieve it stirs an ancient spirit within him.

Created under the marvelous Short Shorts scheme funded by the Irish Film Board, Origin was scripted by Matthew Darragh and James Stacey, with an original score by Rónán Ó Snodaigh of Kíla. It was directed by James Stacey and produced by Sean Smith of Souljacker.