...then there are others

1st watch: Harvie Krumpet

Now! Wasn't that great? I stumbled upon this short whilst reading about the best Australian films of all time. I saw "2004 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film" and thought I'd give it a try. Afterward I seriously considered buying Adam Elliot's DVD off of his Website and still might do so. According to the source of all human knowledge, Wikipedia:

"His films including: UNCLE, COUSIN, BROTHER and HARVIE KRUMPET, have participated in over five hundred film festivals and won over one hundred awards. Adam has won 5 AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards for his 4 films and they have been translated, sold and distributed to broadcasters, airlines and theaters, as well as festivals, around the globe. The DVD of his films has been released in Europe, Australasia and America, with sales in Australia of over 40,000 copies. In 2006 HARVIE KRUMPET was included in the Annecy International Animation Festival’s Top 100 animated films of all time . In 1999 Adam was made Young Victorian of the Year and he is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. He also has served as a juror at numerous international film festivals and is in demand as a public and corporate speaker".

Not too shabby. So why haven't I ever heard of him? Have you ever heard of him? I thought maybe it was because he was Australian but eventually decided it is because he makes shorts. I think shorts have lost their place in film and animation due to the intense popularity of feature length Pixar-ish animations that seem to be cranked out daily. However Elliot's shorts are not meant for children. Harvie alone contains nudity (albeit clay), cigarette smoking, sex, drugs, and alcohol. Not exactly your everyday Shrek story.
So since this film is geared towards older audiences, how and when does it get viewed by the general public? The Internet! I doubt people rent shorts DVDs...does anybody do that who isn't a pretentious film student desperate for material? So thanks to sites the likes of youtube, Harvie has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. (174,083 at this moment) So send the link to all your friends and get people to watch. It's worth it since it deals with real life, real problems, real humor and its all made out of clay.

That's awesome.

Also: more is on the way! "Currently Adam and longtime collaborator, producer Melanie Coombs (Melodrama Pictures) are in production of their feature animation “Mary and Max” is due for completion in late 2008 and will feature the voices of Toni Collette, Barry Humphries and Eric Bana"
Yay! We get more Toni and that's always a good thing. So keep an eye out for that one.

Here is a compilation of more Aussie shorts
They aren't all animations but you get the idea.

Last thing: Did anyone see a similarity between Harvie and Amelie Poulain? Just me? Watch and discuss!