MAF 1

My Life as a Courgette

For my first Manchester Animation Festival post, I want to talk about what I consider to be the best moment of the festival, with that being My Life as a Courgette a film from director Claude Barras about a small orphan boy struggling with fitting in and finding his place in an unknown place and sticking up for his friends.

This film was such a surprise for me, I knew absolutely nothing going in to this movie, and it was clear from minute 1, that the whole audience was enticed and intrigued as to what would come next. The writing always felt so personal and fresh, and the child character's felt like they were inexperienced, but troubled children. Often when writer's write child characters, it feels very one note, but these felt like real character's who you felt for, at every turn. The animation was also top notch stop motion, the style was incredibly consistent, and all of the sets and characters felt like they belonged in the world which they were introduced in. The sets also had the necessary amount of detail for the shot they were in. Often sets in stop motion feel very deliberate, where as in this movie, all of them felt life like. Overall, I think this was my favourite Manchester Animation festival moment, as it always felt fresh and new to me, and definitely introduced me to some styles that I was unfamiliar with.