Stop-Motion Short ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT Screens at SLIFF 2013 Saturday Night

If you didn’t get your stop-motion fix last Friday night at the Ray Harryhausen Tribute, you’ll have a chance this weekend to take in the astonishing 9-minute horror short ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT when it plays here as part of the St. Louis International film festival.

ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT is a Latin phrase that means ‘Deep thinking leads to deep understanding’, though the filmmakers note that it can mean ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right’. Whatever the translation, the film is clearly inspired by Czech animator Jan Švankmajer, the American Brothers Quay, and Russian animator Wladyslaw Starewicz by way of David Lynch and the SAW franchise. ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT utilizes stop-motion animation and live-action puppetry to create a darkly comic meditation on capital punishment and religion. I’ve seen ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT and it’s a haunting trip. The animation isn’t particularly smooth but that crudeness works in the film’s favor, and as Ray Harryhausen himself once said: “If you make fantasy too real, it loses the quality of a dream.” ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT is breathtakingly surreal, inventive and extraordinary, infused with a unique cruelty and weirdness that truly is the stuff of nightmares. And did I mention that it’s funny too? The puppets (at least one constructed almost life size) are creepy and enrapturing (they’re not always animated) and the film has many moments that will get under your skin.

According to the filmmaker’s, the macabre world of ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT was inspired by a single untitled painting by artist William Kikaldy (1929-1965) which resides in the Corner Bistro in New York’s West Village. ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT was developed and animated over the course of three years in a 10 by 10 foot space at 3rd Ward Studios in Brooklyn.

ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT has already won many awards including “Best Animated Film” at the Housecore Horror Film Festival in Austin and St. Louisans will have the chance to see it this Saturday November 23rd at 9:15pm. It plays as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival’s Experimental and Absurd Shorts program.

For Ticket information, visit Cinema St. louis’ site HERE

http://www.cinemastlouis.org/shorts-9-experimental-absurd

Director/Designer Wes Simpkins and Editor Matt Glasson will both be in attendance for the screening of ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT. Matt is a SLIFF alum. A feature-length comedy he wrote, starred in, and directed, the St. Louis-lensed LOVE STALKER, played here two years ago (read the WAMG review of LOVE STALKER HERE)

http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2011/11/love-stalker-sliff-review/

The other shorts on the Experimental and Absurd Shorts program Saturday night are:

Bird of Flames (Chel White, U.S., 2012, 5 min.): An examination of the enigmatic nature of love with music by David Lynch and Chrysta Bell.

The Boy with a Camera for a Face (Spencer Brown, U.K., 2013, 14 min.): A satirical fairytale about a boy born with a camera instead of a head.

How to Abandon Ship (Robin McKay, U.S., 2013, 11 min.): The failure of a relationship as told from two sides.

Hunger (Guclu Aydogdu, Turkey, 2013, 2 min.): A family of four plays a deadly game.

Life (Lasse Lorenzen, Denmark, 2012, 2 min.): When a family sits down for dinner, the children learn the true meaning of life.

Manmares (Sean Gaji, Australia, 2013, 20 min.): In a world of surreal creatures, a monster has nightmares about humans.

Men of the Earth (Andrew Kavanagh, Australia, 2012, 10 min.): Traffic is delayed on the edge of a roadwork site for a secret ritual of working men.

Penetrating Trauma (Igor Stevanovic, U.S., 2013, 5 min.): A work of direct animation made by physical intervention with found 8mm porn footage.

Stardust (Mischa Rozema, Netherlands, 2013, 4 min.): Voyager 1, the furthest man-made object from the sun, is witness to unimaginable sights.

Tempo Adagio (Alcione Guerrero, Venezuela, 2013, 11 min.): An elderly couple undertakes a magical journey.