Rob Munday

If you spoke to my dad for long enough, the story of how he met my mother is one bound to arise. A tale of mysterious fogs and cancelled trains, he would describe their coming together as fate, and with over 50-years of marriage behind them who am I to argue. But are our lives really destined to travel a predetermined path? And is there some celestial being pulling the strings? In his eight minute animation Little Miss Fate Joder von Rotz explores these beliefs with an abundance of humour and style.

With its narrative split between two central characters – a lovestruck man rushing to meet his date and a cleaner servicing the workspace of a giant hand who controls everyone’s destiny – you know their lives will collide in some fashion, but nothing can truly prepare you for the detour von Rotz’s short takes. A colourful explosion of a film that manages to be both sweet and disturbing (that scene with Mickey Mouse and the Alien!), Little Miss Fate imagines a world where god rides a white tiger and decides our future at the keys of a giant organ.

In a world driven by fate, the destiny of its inhabitants is decided by a giant hand.

A truly entertaining watch, a lot of the pleasure in von Rotz’s short comes from its comedic approach. A film that could never be accused of taking itself too seriously, Little Miss Fate pushes its humour to an extreme through some insane character design and pitch-perfect gags (the hand-on-hand porn being one of my favourites). Having worked on a number of other over-the-top Swiss animations, including Lorenz Wunderle’s Coyote and Kilian Vilim’s Mr. Pete & the Iron Horse, it’s no real surprise von Rotz’s film follows a similar path. Fun, unpredictable and distinct, this approach just works and at just over eight-minutes in length Little Miss Fate never overstays it welcome, leaving you giddy from its rapid assault of the senses.

With such an effervescent storyline, von Rotz had to back it up with some bold design work and decided to take inspiration from the the Riso print process for his visuals. Explaining that he felt this approach would fit “beautifully into the 80’s/90’s aesthetic” he was aiming for, they digitally recreated the Riso style for screen and the resulting look is the perfect compliment to the insane narrative. That unconventional storyline will probably leave the strongest impact here, but every time you think of Little Miss Fate and drift away to von Rotz’s bizarre universe, his vivid style will be fresh in your thoughts.

Aiming to create a film which was “a little bit provocative”, Little Miss Fate left quite a mark on the festival circuit playing a host of festivals from A (Annecy) to Z (Zagreb) and picking up the High Risk Swiss award at the 2020 edition of Fantoche. His first time in the director’s seat, the future looks very bright for von Rotz and we’re eager to see more of the crazy shorts he’ll be involved with in the future.