There was a time when it looked like the fuzzy characters of needle-felt would take over the world of animated short film. Filmmakers like Anna Mantzaris and Emma De Swaef (along with her partner Marc James Roels) had showcased how the tactile nature of the wooly technique lent a certain warmth to their characters, while Dan Ojari and Mickey Please, creators of Aardman’s Robin Robin, chose felt to make their creations appear “that little bit more alive“. With the popularity of the technique having somewhat of a resurgence over recent years, the downside to this revival has been the lack of visual originality in these fabric films. We needed to see someone do something totally different with a wooly aesthetic and San Francisco State University graduate Cole Montminy has risen to that challenge.

With his MFA thesis film Dial Tone Montminy has taking the textural technique and twisted it into something as grotesque as it is beautiful, with this strange tale of two neighbours and their telephones. Narratively, Dial Tone is certainly on the more surreal side of what we usually feature on S/W, but what it lacks in a conventional narrative arc it more than makes up for with energy and atmosphere. As the film settles into its frantic rhythm, driven by a minimal score and sound fx (mainly of telephones ringing), it become an all-consuming viewing experience, swallowing you into its soft, but unsettling world.

If narratively Dial Tone may not seem an ideal fit for S/W, aesthetically it ticks all our boxes, with the animation some of the most exciting we’ve seen in a while. As wooly animation has become synonymous with cute characters and comforting worlds, Montminy’s approach bucks that trend opting for a more ominous vibe. Settings are made to feel real, with fly-infested litter bags scattered on lawns and overflowing mail boxes at the edge of the property, but it’s the characters, with their bulgy bloodshot eyes and hairy feet, that really steal the show. As the neighbours run around our screen embracing, fighting and answering telephones, their features warp as the camera orbits them. You never really know how to feel about them, but it’s fun to spend a little time in their company.

With the team here at S/W immersed in the festival world, in contact with the top film schools worldwide and able to call on a network of filmmakers in the thousands, it’s not often a film gets released online without us already knowing about it. Dial Tone arrived on our radar as an unknown, brought to my attention on Vimeo, the short has absolutely floored me with its craft and originality. I went from knowing nothing about Cole Montminy yesterday, to becoming obsessed with his work today. On his Vimeo channel you can find over 20-more videos from the filmmaker, which you can guarantee I’ll be checking out over the coming days.