Jason Sondhi

Just in time for the World Cup, with the attention of the entire world descending upon his native Brazil, Guilherme Marcondes releases his loving ode to the country, a playful ghost story that celebrates the contradictions that define it—the revelrous and libidanal contrasting with the stern and fascistic.

The first part of “The Master’s Voice”, a proposed series of works based on urban folklore, Caveirão is a film that delights in joy, movement and color. Essentially the depiction of a ghost dance party (now that sounds fun), the good times are broken up by an authoritarian figure in military dress and, intriguingly, a skull for a face.

The plot is slim, especially for a 10min film, but Marcondes amply fills the runtime with visual splendor. A fantastic display of his fecund imagination, the film combines cartoony 2D animation, 3D and live-action into one seamless whole—bolstering the reputation Gui has established as a visual pioneer, beginning with his now iconic breakthrough work, 2006’s Tyger.

A true international effort, the film utilized Brazilian companies Paranoid BR, Birdo and Anvil FX as well as the legendary French house Autour de Minuit (Logorama) and Marcondes home production co.,  Hornet (home to such SotW-featured filmmakers as Julia Pott, and Mikey Please). I think it’s sometimes easy when enjoying short film in the online space to forget about how much effort, technology and, ultimately, money goes into these productions. Marcondes excellent BTS film on the work behind Caveirão begins to attest to that, but to call it “professional-level” work frankly does a disservice, because professional level work is not generally this progressive in pushing forward its visual aesthetics.

So, cheers to Marcondes on releasing the film online for us to all enjoy so quickly following its March premiere at SXSW, as it is not always an easy choice. If you like it, please leave a comment as well as share the film.