Cucalorus Film Festival Animated Shorts

The first films I went to at the Cucalorus film festival was a group of animated shorts. They were all really good, if not a little weird, but one of them stuck out to me more then the others. The one I enjoyed the most was called Zeinek Gehiago Iraun, or Who Lasts Longer. It was the story of a group of kids who played a game to see who could stand in front of an oncoming train the longest. The stort takes a sad turn when one of the boys, Ander, gets hit by the train because his shoe is stuck in the track. Not only was the story sad and heartbreaking, it was also a very nicely written animated piece. The director, Gregorio Muro, I thought did an excellent job of combining the right level of emotions with excellent animation and a great soundtrack. The other shorts were also very good though. There was one called Belly by Julia Pott. Belly was weird, really weird. It was the story of a boy who loses his best friend in a really weird and crazy world that they live in. It's hard to see them finally part ways but the story itself has a simple enough message. I was a bit skeptical that I would not enjoy these films but I really liked them and it was nice to see a side of film I don't experience that much.