Canadian pre- and post-production services studio Lakeside Animation Studio (lakesideanimation.com) announces the completion of two brand-new, original short films for adult audiences, ready to hit the festival circuit this summer.
These new projects follow the studio’s award-winning horror anthology project, Red Iron Road, which launched on AVOD services Prime Video (Canada, U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand) Tubi (Ca., U.S., Aus. & N.Z.) and Plex (Can., U.S.) in December.
The Death of James
This summer, director Sam Chou is set to premiere his poignant new animated short film The Death of James, in association with Blue Ant Media and Lakeside Animation Studio.
Drawing from a deeply personal wellspring of true events, the film delves into the tender complexities of friendship, loss and mortality, captured through the narrative of two young friends faced with the heart-wrenching decision to euthanize their beloved pet ferret. Chou once again partners with award-winning writer Ellery Vandooyeweert to explore delicate themes such as grief and euthanasia.
The film features performances from Isaiah Lehtinen (I Like Movies) as the inventive Ellery, Kyle Bailey (Heartland) as Kevin, who carries the emotional weight of their predicament, and Amanda Brugel (The Handmaid’s Tale) as the empathetic veterinarian.
Chou’s previous animated short films VRDLK and In The Heat, from Lakeside’s award-winning Red Iron Road anthology, earned prestigious screening spots at genre festivals such as Fantasia and FilmQuest.
Luz Diabla
The second short film launching is Luz Diabla, a modern take on an old folk legend from Argentina and Uruguay known as the ‘Bad Light’. This Spanish-language short is co-produced with Argentinia studio Ojo Raro (ojoraro.com.ar), led by creatives Patricio Plaza, Gervasio Canda, and Paula Boffo.
Luz Diabla stars up-and-coming talent Gianluca Zonzini (Bajo Naranja, 2024) as Martin, a flamboyant city boy, driving in the countryside looking for a rave where his favorite DJ is performing. As he pops some pills, a mysterious light flashes before him, causing a car crash. Confused, he finds himself asking for help at a tavern, where two gauchos — voiced by Argentinian payador David Tokar and Mario Alarcon of Oscar-winning Argentinian film El secreto de sus Ojos, 2009), warn him of a terrifying power that haunts the area. Scared by their foreboding attitude, Martin flees, ignoring their warnings and finds the rave. But as he enters, he finds something much more terrifying.
Focusing on original animated content for adult audiences, Ojo Raro’s works are described as “defiant and disruptive,” spotlighting shorts, series and feature films from creators form the economic south — particularly women filmmakers and those from queer and minority communities — which “put [their] gaze upon the monstrous, the anomalous, the twisted, the silenced.”
Recent successes include Carne de Dios, which has been traveling the festival circuit for the last two years under Miyu Distribution. The film screened at Annecy and won the Best Animated Short Film awards from the Guadalajara Film Festival and Pixelatl Festival in Mexico, from La Havana Film Festival in Cuba, and several others, and was a nominee for Best Short Subject at the 2024 Annie Awards. Ojo Raro in involved in the curation of LGBTQ content in the program “Hidden Queer Desires” and participated in Women In Animation’s “Authentic Storytelling” panel for Annecy Festival 2024. The studio has also launched a mentoring program for short film creators, Voces Del Sur, in collaboration with Bit Bang Festival.
