The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

My Pretty Lover

An experimental short film loosely adapting the story “My Pretty Pony” by Stephen King.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

An alien and a robot land on Earth after World War II and tell mankind to be peaceful or face destruction.

Birth

Amina, a young woman (17) is pregnant and afraid to give birth. For a consolation and advice she goes to older women but their stories scare her even more.

Garden of Remembrance

An untidy room. Empty beer tins, empty wine bottles, a half-empty glass of whisky... A girl is getting up absent-mindedly and starts preparing herself. YOUR morning starts. Lazy and hard-to-wake-up YOU. The emoticon is ME watching over YOU. I play tricks on YOU, while YOU are playing the guitar and drinking. One day, in town, YOU walk past THE CHILDHOOD FRIEND who is buying an Anemone I liked, and remembering that I liked them, YOU rush out to buy them. THE CHILDHOOD FRIEND displays the Anemone with care. One day, years after I died, YOU hear noise from the closet. Opened, YOU see MY garden right in front of YOU. Overflowing emotions of ME and YOU. When exiting from the room with memories, a picture of the Anemone that YOU painted is displayed in YOUR new room.

Minotaur

A loose interpretation of the Minoan myth, as seen through the monster's point of view. Abandoned in a labyrinthine island, the childlike minotaur has as his only companion a playful red ball and a multitude of mirrors. When he sees his own image he imagines himself dancing in perfect synchronicity with a mysterious other. But new characters are brought to the island, and they don't behave like his choreographed twins. Confused and frustrated, the creature has to learn to adapt to a world of uncertainty. But when he can't, the monster's true nature is revealed. Most of the character animation was originally hand-drawn on a light table, cut out and mounted on rigid cardboard. This was done so that each replacement could stand up vertically within a three-dimensional set. The set was then lit with fibre-optic lights and shot in stop-motion, using a 16mm Bolex camera. Some of the animation was done as hinged cut-out puppets on glass, using a multi-plane rig.

Love Games

I remember the games I played when I was young. We were happy playing together, but, looking back, I realize I used the games to satisfy my own desires. It was a child’s selfcentered behavior. But adult lovers, too, display immature sides in their relationships. Consumed by self-love, they act like children. I have tried to illustrate this kind of love through the metaphor of children’s games.

Windup

A father tries to stay connected with his unconscious daughter through music. He plays a windup music box and hopes she can hear it while fighting with his own emotions to stay strong. Meanwhile, his daughter follows the melody in her dreams and looks for a way back.

Darrel

The tragic tale of two unlucky amphibians and a series of escalating blunders that ends their flirting for good.

Robert

5-year-old Robert lives in a newly built suburban area where all houses look exactly the same.

La chaqueta del botones

Piccolo

Two men in adjoining duplexes, good friends, are enchanted by the song of a bird. One buys a small harmonica and learns to play it; he keeps his neighbor awake. The neighbor buys a larger harmonica, and an arms race ensues; the instruments get larger, until it's a piano vs. a pipe organ, and then they start bringing in larger groups of friends until an entire orchestra is playing the 1812 Overture. The houses collapse from all this, atop the dueling orchestras, and on their way up to heaven, the man puts his small harmonica up for sale.