Meet Me Far

Meet Me Far is one of those rare and lovely pieces of animation which stay in your head for a long time afterwards.  It was directed by Ran Sieradzki and is the latest single by Israeli singer Anat Ben Hemo.  In it we meet a cute little guy who just seems to get immense pleasure out of watching his world pass by.  That’s it really, just a very simple storyline but exquisitely executed.

It makes some difference that Anat has such a lovely, ethereal voice.  Having decided that she was going to be a singer as a child that is exactly what she did.  As well as appearing in jazz festivals around the globe her work represents a number of genres, including folk and electronic.  This is just lovely – let’s hope it’s a big hit for her.

Touch

This is such a life affirming short film that it may well make you cry (if you are as big and as soft as I am it is a guarantee). It shows, through a series of tiny vignettes, the relationship between two people from their original introduction until – well, watch it and find out. At just over two minutes no one can accuse you of wasting your time, even if you are work. OK, possibly if you are at work but if you share it with your boss then you should be fine. Don’t send me a bill if you get fired, though.

Touch is directed and edited by Nimer Rashed and produced by Lindsay Fraser who also appears in the short as Katie. He was the Royal Court Theatre’s filmmaker-in-residence in 2012 (if you live outside of the UK that’s quite prestigious). He also writes plays and theater scripts.

The Way Home

A mouse needs a house.  And when you have a house you need things to put in it.  The Way Home is a very sweet combination of live footage and animation which tracks the journey of our new murine friend as he gathers new belongings with which to decorate his humble abode.  The animation was created by students of Liu Song, a tutor at Hangzhou Normal University in Zhejiang Province, Eastern China.

Romance

You may not recognize yourself in here (just yet!) but you may, like me, see something of your parents or your grandparents. An old couple, who have obviously been together for many decades, go through the day.

The man is somewhat static, focused on fixing a broken alarm clock. His wife goes about the daily chores which include cleaning her husband’s glasses at regular intervals. The feeling is one of two people utterly used to and comfortable in each other’s company. Not a great deal happens but as the title suggests, romance is not dead between the two.

This charming animated short was created by students from the Bezalel Academy in Israel. Ore Peleg was responsible for direction, story, animation and compositing while Roni Cohen was in charge of art, modeling, lighting and rendering. Again, students from this small but over a century old academy come up with world class animation – congratulations to all involved.

Bloom

A simple act of kindness can change a life forever. This may not be as cutting edge as some of the animations that we include on Kuriositas but the gooey feeling it gave us was something that we had to share!

It tells a simple story – of a woman living her own. Having quietly retreated in to her shell she is both alone and lonely but cannot break down the walls of her isolation.

However, all that is about to change when a kindly (and we suspect, quite potty as well!) neighbor gives her a small gift.  This charming animated short was made at San José State University by students of the Animation & Illustration department. 

Captain Cumulus

Captain Cumulus is in trouble but he receives some assistance from an unexpected source.

This is a very sweet animated short film by James Hing and Melissa Choong. Please don't expect Shakespeare or Dickens, the story is short and simple - but charming! If you have any small children loitering nearby call them over - they will adore this!

It just goes to show that sometimes we shouldn’t always judge a book by its cover!