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This short is featured on the Animation Show Vol. 3 DVD.

In 2006, Joanna Quinn’s DREAMS AND DESIRES - FAMILY TIES won top prizes at animation festivals around the world. Many felt it was a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination, but alas, as the Oscars often go in the Best Animated Short category, nothing is certain. It made my honorable mention list as part of the first RFP Overlooked Awards. Some say it’s the thick Welsh accents that did it in with the Yankees, which could be true, because for an untrained ear, it’s hard to decipher at first. However, after seeing the film a few times, I found myself falling in love with it.

The protagonist, full-figured Beryl (Menna Trussler), is a character Quinn has visited two times before in GIRLS NIGHT OUT and BODY BEAUTIFUL. She is an earnest woman whose chief fault is that she tries too hard sometimes. Her new assignment is to film her raunchy relative’s wedding. Seeing the events from Beryl’s point of view, she captures many embarrassing moments, even creating a few with her overzealous attempts at tracking shots and strapping her camera to a dog’s back.

Quinn’s fluid animation is remarkable. The bizarre angles she creates as Beryl moves through the environment are simply amazing. Beryl is a charming character that we sympathize with. She has big goals and wild dreams, but her heart is in the right place. She also has a way of portraying a heavy-set woman honestly with beauty. Quinn returned to Beryl because she didn’t want people to remember her only as the Charmin Bears woman. While the voice work takes some getting use, Beryl is a character worth returning to for continuing adventures and I look forward to more in the future.

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Watch the Film

This short is featured on the Animation Show Vol. 3 DVD.

PES is an animator whose style is unforgettable. Using found objects, through stop-motion animation, he creates bizarre concoctions that often defy adequate explanation. His best film, ROOF SEX, shows us what our furniture gets into when we’re not at home to sit on them. In GAME OVER, PES celebrates classic arcade games by cooking up a short made with food and other household items.

Classic videogame fans will recognize CENTIPEDE, FROGGER, ASTEROID, SPACE INVADERS and PAC-MAN. Centipedes made up of blue-frosted cupcakes are blocked by muffins and blasted at by a salt-shaker shooting birthday candles. A toy frog hops across a river of sequins onto watch face lily pads and pretzel stick logs. Beetles replace space invaders as an unseen fighter shields behind leaves, which break apart via hole-punches from the pipe-cleaner laser attack of the approaching insects. In outer space made of black marble, a spaceship with candy corn flames shots BBs at large chunks of rock. Pac-Man is a pizza missing a slice and when he comes upon a pretzel… it’s a pretzel. With that you understand what to expect visually and will find that the collision of seeming randomness is inspired. The homage to these Atari-era games is not only captured in the sound, but also in the movement. It’s the attention to detail that makes the film so fun, bringing back fond memories of sore thumbs.

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