The Brickfilm Feature: Strange French films
I would like to bring attention to a contest that is being run by our French friends at Brick à Brack on behalf of The LEGO Group. LEGO requested that they host the Thor: Ragnarok Contest to tie in with the upcoming Marvel film and related LEGO sets. The contest is for short brickfilms starring Thor, and the deadline is October 29. The contest is open to worldwide entries and the announcement and rules are in English, so make sure to check it out!
With that in mind, I decided this edition of The Brickfilm Feature should have a French theme. While France has given us some of the greatest brickfilms ever made, there is another area that has piqued my interest and has been on the cards for a feature. I have noticed a bit of a trend among French (and French Canadian) brickfilmers to create short and quirky films based on a single novel concept or experimental animation technique. Due to these films usually being rather strange, I affectionately refer to them as "French insanity films". Fittingly, this type of film is often made for Brick à Brack's popular animation challenge, which seems to attract more filmic entries than the animation challenge on BiM. I love these films as there is a great sense of fun to be found in them. They also seem like a good way to release films more frequently, rather than just leave the ideas as tests. I have chosen 10 films by 5 directors, which may look like a lot but actually comes out to about 9 minutes total viewing time. There is no language barrier.
EARWAX by Loïc F-B (2013)
Hand'Shoes by Loïc F-B (2013)
Choo choo! by Loïc F-B (2011)
This is the French Canadian portion of the feature. Loïc F-B has been around on both BàB and BiM for a long time, and though he hasn't released a film in a couple of years, he remains active as an admin of Brick à Brack and is participating in hosting the Thor: Ragnarok Contest. One problem with this feature is that it's often the case with with these types of films that the less is said, the better. I will say that EARWAX is well voiced by Loïc and Squid, Hand'Shoes features an excellent interpretation of the animation challenge theme "Walking on Hands", and Choo choo!... Well, you just need to watch Choo choo!.
To see the rest of the films featured, visit the forum thread!
