vtiff at first night 2017

every year at first night the VT international Film Foundation screens a set of animated short films. they are like my favorite thing to go to.

many of them are available on the interwebs, so i have found the ones from this year and put them together for you, more or less in the order of how well i liked them.

a couple of them are not available (apparently) but are worth knowing about, so i've given you what links i can.

it's worth your time to watch them on vimeo or youtube, where you can see better than if i make little embed windows, so hold onto your hats because here come some LINKS.

Cravings is mildly cute, and nutritionally themed. while the vimeo version is labeled as the trailer, it appears to be the whole thing, or at least it's what they showed at first night.

Kahānikār is both cute and sad, a story about a little girl living with a grandfather who has dementia, and the telling of stories. only the trailer is available.

The Bubbleologist is a live-action mini documentary about a man who loves bubbles and holds bubble-making world records. i had seen it before, but did not mind seeing it again. if you haven't seen it already, you can see it now.

if you like tapirs (and who doesn't?), you should not miss this animated documentary, Pinchaque. plus it's fun to say "pinchaque".

Little Matryoshka is a charming little film about -what else?- a set of little matryoshka and some other wooden toys. it has a very satisfying soundtrack.

i was completely unable to find an online version, even a trailer, of the delightful little film Pautinka, which is a tale of friendship between an old woman and a spider. the animations of the spider are particularly amusing.

so now we're getting to the ones i especially liked.

A Girl Named Elastika is worth watching just for the animation, which is stop action with OFFICE SUPPLIES. watch all the way to the credits, because the "outtakes" are worth as much as the rest of the movie.

then we have two dog tales, The Present and My Happy End. both awesome.

and if you only decide to watch one, make it Chinti. the animation is stop action made of TEA LEAVES. and because i'm sure you want to know, "chinti" is hindi for "ant". you're welcome.