Short but sweet (2017)

Directed by: Junaid Chundrigar | 2 minutes | animation, short film | Original voice cast: Ruben van der Meer, Dennis Impink, Junaid Chundrigar, Thijs van Domburg, Liz el Saadany, Erik Griekenpoor

When time is an impediment, it is even more difficult as a filmmaker to make your point or tell a coherent story that also draws the viewer along. Filmmakers Junaid Chundrigar and Thijs van Domburg made ‘Short but powerful’ (2017) as part of Ultrakort, an annual program in which four filmmakers made an animation film of only two minutes. The clever thing is that they did not see the short playing time as an obstacle, but rather put the story in the service of this obstacle.

A story is told at lightning speed that we have seen hundreds of times before, but never so flash. The speed is a big plus, as a viewer you hardly have time to breathe, but beware: you will regularly laugh at what is passing you on the canvas.

In a beautiful animation style, where the characters are drawn with sharp lines and the environment is blurred, yet full of details, we are introduced in ‘Short but Powerful’ with a number of well-known characters, including the wizard, the hero-against-will- and-thanks, the princess, the dragon. But each character has something different than you expect, so that you will be surprised until the end. Very well done, more of this please!