Nine Nation Animation is a collection of recent award-winning animated short films from some of the biggest and hoity-toitiest festivals around the world; Cannes, Berlin, Annecy, etc. The anthology was assembled by a group called The World According to Shorts, and it will play for one week at New York City’s IFC Center, starting September 29.
It will also be shown:
• 9/23-24/10 International Film Series, Boulder, CO
• 10/24-31/10 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
• 11/12/10 George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
The vibe of this project reminds me a lot of the recent French animation anthology, Fear(s) of the Dark, which was mostly mediocre but had one fantastic short. I’d guess that will be the case here. Mostly so-so weirdness, one or two pieces of greatness. If you live in an area showing the collection, your interest in seeing this is likely directly proportional to either your love of avant-garde animation or your love of visual stimuli while on drugs.
Some of these shorts look pretty amazing. I hope this comes to DVD eventually, as not only do I not live in any of those four cities, but, you know, I’d like the option to skip over the shorts that aren’t working for me… I quit smoking pot earlier in the year.