Festival Season:
July 2024
Lunatic
Directors:
Writers:
Robin Noorda
Robin Noorda
Producers:
Robin Noorda, Marc Thelosen
Run Time:
0:16:00
Awarded for the following Category(s):
Awarded Category(s)
Lunatic tackles urgent earthly issues, as seen by a lonely astronaut, called Antonio, who was left behind on the moon after his coming out. In addition to the climate crisis, human waste, even in space, determines our fate. The moon-guard, a statue of a skinned warrior, symbolises defence against the space debris danger from above. Ultimately, collisions between space debris and satellites will cause a cascade of collisions that will destroy all communications. It's called Kessler syndrome.
The earth ends up with a Saturn like dust ring of metal and silicon. Antonio is aware of these problems and as he put's it: “It is one small scrap by man, one giant heap by mankind.” He tries to do some terra forming on the moon and finally he meets the all knowing 'I am AI' who also happens to be the voice over.
Lunatic is an improvisation animation film by Robin Noorda, based on his poem about the human behaviour of leaving waste everywhere.
Submitter Statement
The array of man-made urgent crises the world is facing are of an absurd magnitude. And since the early days of slapstick, man's lunacy in film always made us laugh. So this film is a serious environmental comedy and perhaps it indeed is best to laugh about it. Life will continue without us. Probably there will be a dynasty of Tardigrades. But then again, that sentence from the film-poem: 'Terra formation is now opportune. Not on Mars or the moon, but on our own dying Earth.' Keeping this planet habitable takes much less effort than making another suitable for it. We are Lunatics!
It is an improvisation animation as the workflow was not based on a fixed script, storyboard or plan.
I started with only some ideas and images in my head. An approach promoted in order to maintain creativity during production instead of being merely a slave of the pre-production script and storyboard.
The film is based on my poem and my lost and recently re-emerged juvenile drawing (made in 1975) of a skinned warrior, trying to defend itself against a lunar lander. It also features a 40 years lost model spaceship I made during my internship at Toonder Studio's that also recently came back to me.
Robin Noorda (31-12-1959 Laren NL) studied animation, graphic design and photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Rijks Academy both in Amsterdam. In the early eighties he started as designer and animator for the Dutch public broadcasting organisation and pioneering computer animator at the first CGI studio in the Netherlands. In that period he also co-founded the art movement Tropism Art & Science Collective and his design company Morphosis. Nowadays he is an independent filmmaker and specialised in stop-motion animation
. Film Biography
Lunatic (2024, short stop-motion animation, 16') London, New Arts International Film Festival - Poetry Award Cleveland Ohio, Short Sweet Film Fest - Environmental Award Milano, Absurd Film Festival - Absurd Award Istanbul, Anatolia International Film Festival - World Building Award Kookai International Film Festival - Current Issue Award Reno, Nevada, Sci-on - Winner Best Animation Short Jaipur, Cinema Cappuccino festival - Best Film on Climate Issues Ramsgate International Film Festival - Experimental Award Première: Imagine Fantastic Film Festival Rebirth of Venus (2021, short stop-motion animation 9') Premiere: Netherlands Film Festival Berlin Underground Film Festival - Best Rhythm & Poetry Mumbai International Film Awards - Best Content Award Cooper Awards - Best Screenwriter Golden Harvest Film Festival - Best Production & Best Experimental Film Milan Gold Awards - Silver Award Indie Short Film & Gold Award Production Design New York Movie Awards - Best Production Design Blastoff Los Angeles - Best Sound Design Only The Best Film Festival, Winner Experimental & Winner Animation Pacific Beach International Film Festival - Best Experimental Short European Cinematography Awards - Best Visual Effects New York City IO Festival - 3th place winner- Women's Issue Themed Anticensura Film Featival - Best Political Film Festival Angaelica - Jury Award Animation Cine Pobre Film Festival - Honorable Mention Make Art Not Fear Film Festival - Best Poetry Short Red-end and the Factory Plant (2015, short stop-motion animation, 15') Premiere: Netherlands Film Festival nominated: Clermont Ferrand Short FF, Mecal, HAFF, FIFE, MIAF, Cartoons on the Bay. Award at the NCAIAF Sapporo, Japan Honourable Mention for the Devour! Golden Tine Award for Best Animation in Canada. Red-end and the Seemingly Symbiotic Society (2009, short stop-motion animation, 15') Premiere: Holland Animation FF, Moviesquad Award. Nomination: Gouden Kalf - Netherlands Film Festival Espinho, Cinanima, Award for Best Short Film Tallinn, Animated Dreams F, "Brain-tap" Award for Best Film Angers, Premiers Plans - Audience Award Best European Short Film St. Petersburg; IF of Animation Art, special mention for unconventional look. Nominated: Annecy International Animation FF, Cartoon d'Or, Nijmegen, Go-short FF Shivering Beauty, Soundscape of Mongolia (2007 - dir. cut 2010, documentary / music film, 74') Premiere: Buddhist Film Festival Broadcasted: BOS/NPO
Key Cast
Other Credits