Magda (2004 film)

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Official theatrical poster for Chel White's short animated film, Magda. MAGDA poster (original).jpg
Official theatrical poster for Chel White's short animated film, Magda.

Magda is a 2004 stop motion animated short film by independent filmmaker Chel White, from a story written and read by monologist Joe Frank. [1]

Contents

A first love is corrupted as a man recalls his affair with a beautiful circus contortionist in this stop-motion animation of wooden manikins. [2] [3]

Short of the Week's Serafima Serafimova describes Magda as "A love story so beautiful and incredibly touching in its simplicity… it’s a real gem of untarnished beauty." [4]

Visually, the film explores the use of extreme telephoto lenses, creating enigmatic scenes that reveal themselves over time, and ghostly figures drifting in-and-out of focus. [5] Animation World Network describes the aesthetic as "swimming in the rack-focus sea of a telephoto lens with an extremely shallow depth of field. This can feel like the equivalent of driving through a thick fog, but it is also a very efficient means of directing the eye to the relevant action in some very busy sets." [6] The characters in the film are derived from basic, pose-able wooden manikins found in any art supply store, but extensively redesigned and rigged to be usable as stop motion puppets.

Awards/film Festivals

Compilation

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References

  1. "Fresh from the Festivals: December 2004's Reviews".
  2. "Watch Magda | Prime Video". www.amazon.com.
  3. "Magda (Short 2004) - IMDb" via www.imdb.com.
  4. "Magda by Chel White | Animated Short Film". Static.shortoftheweek.com. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  5. "Magda • FILMFEST HAMBURG". www.filmfesthamburg.de. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  6. "Fresh from the Festivals: December 2004's Reviews".
  7. "FLORIDA FILM FESTIVAL 2004 ANNOUNCES WINNERS | Film Threat". 22 March 2004. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  8. "Magda | IFFR".
  9. "Magda - IMDb" via www.imdb.com.
  10. "The animation show. Volume 1 and 2". 2007.