Today, film lovers are treated to the online, free-to-view release of Letter to a Pig, the Oscar shortlisted animated short from acclaimed Israeli animation filmmaker and visual artist Tal Kantor. Created with striking, largely monochrome traditional animation and live-action footage, the 16-minute work made its public digital debut through Short of the Week. (Watch it below.)
“It is hard to remember a recent film that tackles such a large, abstract, yet important theme as Letter to a Pig does, and it does so in a sophisticated way, by capturing how memory, reality, and the subconscious intertwine and influence each other,” comments Short of the Week curator Céline Roustan in her review. “And yet, the film is emotionally and intellectually legible too, as its honest and raw look at that emotionally charged topic is what makes the film so captivating and powerful. It is not only a great short, but an important one, too — a film we expect to be referenced and returned to in the coming years.”
Synopsis: A surreal journey into the dark subconscious of Israel’s collective memory, as seen through the eyes of a young school girl.
A Holocaust survivor writes a ‘thank you’ letter after the war, to the pig that saved his life. Following his testimony in the classroom, a young schoolgirl dreams a dark version of his story. In her subconscious, through the pig’s controversial figure she confuses good and bad, victim and victimizer, and confronts big questions about humanity, evil and compassion.
“The film is based on my personal experience as a young school girl, a memorable encounter I had with a Holocaust survivor and an unforgettable dream I had afterwards,” Kantor revealed in an interview conducted by Annecy Festival (watch here). “The film deals with the subject of memory, and the actual act of remembering — how do we perceive a memory in our minds? This is why the visuals in the film appear fragmented and incomplete, mimicking the mechanics of memory itself, where some elements we can remember very precisely and vividly, while others maintain quite elusive and blurry.”
Letter to a Pig is written and directed by Kantor, a graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. Her animated works are rendered in a distinct style, combining drawing, photography, video, painting and animation techniques. The short was produced by The Hive Studio (Israel) and Miyu Productions (France).
Prior to Letter to a Pig, which qualified for Oscars consideration by winning the Anima Grand Prix in addition to many other festival honors, Kantor created the animated short In Other Words (2016), which won 17 awards and was selected for more than 100 festivals around the world. She was also the animation art director for the documentary feature Advocate (2019), which won an Emmy Award and was also Oscar shortlisted.
Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch will vote on the five nominees for Best Animated Short Film this month. Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 23. The 96th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 10 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.
