Jason Sondhi

I wouldn’t know, since I don’t live in France or know any French animators, but in my mind I like to believe that there is an epic rivalry between the French animation schools Gobelins and Supinfocom. Something of the likes of Ohio St. v. Michigan, U.S.A v. U.S.S.R or even Slytherin versus Gryffindor—with bad blood festering between the two and fierce pride on the line every festival season.

MarBelle shared the darling of last year’s student crop with Oktapodi, a work that came out of the more established and venerable Gobelins, but Supinfocom students have been making headlines the last few years as well: Yankee Girl and Gary, both so good  I couldn’t choose just one, both so fresh they made a big buzz at festivals last summer, both completely different than the loveable Oktapodi.

While Oktapodi is a CG cartoon, displaying a preternatural deftness for the subtleties of slapstick fun, Yankee Girl is more mature, a CG metaphor swirling around sex and death as a fighter pilot’s plane careens out of control. Gary on the other hand captures the romantic sweetness and yearning of budding adolescent sexuality and grafts that onto a surreal imagining of the young boys mindscape, drowning the audience (and the boy too!) in indelibly sensual imagery. Don’t miss either.

As a bonus the Yankee Gal link directs you to a stupidly insightful and detailed Q&A with its four creators. Silly students don’t know yet that the key to being true artists is to be as cryptic and unforthcoming as possible regarding your work. Oh well, our gain. Gary is missing subtitles, but don’t worry – that doesn’t distract from the film much.

Watch Gary via:  Vimeo