Zippy Bits #1: Polychronakis, King Richard and Astronauts

#Greek animation director Stelios Polychronakis, who competed at 2010 Annecy festival with his stop-motion film The Village, has a new 2D/3D film in the making.

A Night At the Cemetery is a comedic turn (3D characters on 2D background), scheduled for March 2018.

 

 #Niki Lindroth von Bahr, who shook a little bit the animation festival circuit with her previous film The Bath House, returns with a new, all-singing short, The Burden (Min Börda).

 The film was in competition at Cannes 2017 (Directors' Fortnight); to watch during this year's Annecy festival. Here's the film trailer.

#The long-gestated, 27-minute sci-fi short Astronaut of Featherweight by Croatian artist Dalibor Barić (production: Bonobo Studio) finds its way (and a premiere) to this year's Animafest Zagreb.

 

Astronaut of Featherweight

Astronaut of Featherweight is a dark vision of the hypercapitalist transhuman society in which body is a commodity and money is immortality. From space spa colonies to alien plantations, everybody is forced to take care of their bodies. More film info

#Tinmouse Animation Studio (Chelmsford, UK), along with history podcast Rex Factor, bring to life the history of King Richard III.

The pilot show delves into the King's life, and then rates him on a series of 5 factors: Battleyness, Scandal, Subjectivity, Longevity and Dynasty before deciding whether he deserves the coveted Rex Factor crown.

The animated podcast and project will set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund the last stage.