Grief is not an easy subject to depict. No storyteller wants to leave its audience hopeless, and yet it is important to convey the truth, the uncomfortable bits. The movie Canvas is one such short and silent animated movie about an elderly artist who is processing the grief of the…
Category: Reading between frames
Arrival and an intelligent approach to aliens
“If all I ever gave you was a hammer…Everything’s a nail…” I believe that a well-made movie takes inspiration from one core idea and then carefully weaves a story around it. There’s intent, a message, and its rest falls in place. The quote mentioned above is from the Arrival movie,…
Reading between frames
Bombay Rose – the new milestone in Indian animation
Our fairy tales have always been about love. A beautiful princess, a handsome prince on a white horse, and the happily-ever-afters. On the eastern side of the world, Salim faced death for loving Anarkali – a non-noble royal courtesan who was entombed alive for reciprocating. The love between a prince…
Reading between frames
“Sitara”- A feminist flight from Pakistan
While the story of Tokri made me wonder about the streets and slums of Mumbai, India, Sitara took me straight to the streets and terraces of Lahore, Pakistan. Sitara: Let Girls Dream is a 15-minute silent animation movie from Karachi-based Waadi Animations in collaboration with VICE studios. Set in 1970,…
Reading between frames
The humanity restoration project of movie 9
“We had such potential, such promise. But we squandered our gifts, our intelligence. Our blind pursuit of technology only sped us quicker to our doom. Our world is ending. But life must go on.” On September 9th, 2009, Focus Features released the animated movie, named after the number – 9,…