Aeronaut (2021)

Directed by: Leon Golterman | 2 minutes | animation

The Ultrashort films that are shown in cinemas and/or art houses in the autumn are always real treats for film buffs, as a prelude to the main film. Tell a compelling story in just two minutes and create characters that immediately capture the viewer’s heart: go for it! Following the example of the animated shorts that Disney/Pixar treats the public to as a ‘starter’ prior to a major release, Ultrakort was created to give an impulse to the development of animation talent in the Netherlands. On the other hand, these talented makers of short animation films can reach a wide and diverse cinema audience thanks to this initiative. So the knife cuts both ways. And given the level of most videos, the audience is the biggest winner in the end.

Leon Golterman (twin brother of Nick Golterman, the actor we saw in films such as ‘De Vogelwachter’ (2020) and ‘Weg van je’ (2017)) is one of those talented filmmakers who seized his chance and made an Ultrashort film. made. He previously released the mini thriller ‘Morphine’ (2018). Although Golterman mainly focuses on short live-action films, he shows a lot of guts by going straight into one of the most time-consuming forms of animation: the stop-motion film. For ‘Aeronaut’ (2021) he sought a collaboration with Pedri Animation, a studio that has been causing a furore with stop motion for ten years in the form of commercials, series and short films and even won a Golden Calf for the short horror comedy ‘Under the Apple Tree’ (2015). With their shared passion for film in general and stop motion animation in particular, Golterman and the studio set to work.

The results are impressive. Aeronaut is about Kevin, a 10-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a pilot. Not only because it seems great to him to be able to fly such a huge plane, but also because it allows him and his younger sister Jaimy to escape from their domineering, tyrannical father. When the doorbell rings, Kevin is thrilled; finally he can start assembling his model airplane. But when he goes out of the room to wash the glue off his hands, Jaimy takes off with the plane, with all the consequences that entails…

‘Aeronaut’ is a little gem that clearly has put a lot of time, energy, love and attention into it. Each scene has been carefully and sensitively created and you can tell right away. Already in the first seconds, Golterman manages to create a recognizable world, with Kevin and Jaimy as sympathetic protagonists. In the dreamy escapism of ‘Aeronaut’, the pursuit of your dreams, the great Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki resonates. Not the least to be inspired by! Kevin and Jaimy are characters that you really want to know more about. For example, where has their mother gone? Why are they so afraid of their father, what happened? That we would like to spend more time with them than those two minutes is a compliment to Golterman. With ‘Aeronaut’ he not only shows his talent, but also his versatility.