The Physics of Sorrow | |
---|---|
Directed by | Theodore Ushev |
Based on | The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov |
Narrated by | Rossif Sutherland |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 27 minutes |
Country | Canada |
The Physics of Sorrow (French : Physique de la tristesse) is a Canadian animated short film, directed by Theodore Ushev and released in 2019. [1]
Based on the novel by Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov, the film tells the story of a man reminiscing about his childhood as he struggles to understand the meaning and purpose of his life. [1]
The film was animated entirely through encaustic painting, an old artistic technique involving the melting of pigmented beeswax. [1] It was narrated by Rossif Sutherland, and features a smaller voice appearance by his father, Donald Sutherland. [2]
The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, [3] where it received an honourable mention from the Best Canadian Short Film award jury. [4] It also received a Special Mention for Best Canadian Short Film at the 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival, [5] and was named Best Canadian Film at the 2019 Sommets du cinéma d'animation. [6]
In December 2019, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for short films. [7] It was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2019, [8] and won the Prix Iris for Best Animated Short Film at the 22nd Quebec Cinema Awards in 2020. [9] The Physics of Sorrow also won a Golden Sheaf Award for Best Animation at the 2020 Yorkton Film Festival. [10] In 2020 the film won "the Annecy Cristal" (le Cristal d'Annecy) at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. [11]
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring every two years, the festival became an annual event in 1998. It is one of the four international animated film festivals sponsored by the International Animated Film Association.
Colin Archibald Low was a Canadian animation and documentary filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was known as a pioneer, one of Canada's most important filmmakers, and was regularly referred to as "the gentleman genius". His numerous honors include five BAFTA awards, eight Cannes Film Festival awards, and six Academy Award nominations.
Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Theodore Asenov Ushev is a Bulgarian animator, film director and screenwriter based in Montreal. He is best known for his work at the National Film Board of Canada, including the 2016 animated short Blind Vaysha, which was nominated for an Academy Award. He is a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France.
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Georgi Gospodinov Georgiev is a Bulgarian writer, poet and playwright. His novel Time Shelter received the 2023 International Booker Prize, shared with translator Angela Rodel, as well as the Strega European Prize. His novel The Physics of Sorrow received the Jan Michalski Prize and the Angelus Award. His works have been translated into 25 languages.
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Blind Vaysha is a 2016 animated short by Theodore Ushev, produced by Marc Bertrand for the National Film Board of Canada, with the participation of ARTE France. Based on a story by Georgi Gospodinov, the film tells the story of a girl who sees the past out of her left eye and the future from her right—and so is unable to live in the present. Montreal actress Caroline Dhavernas performed the narration for the film, in both its French and English language versions. The film incorporates music from Bulgarian musician and composer Kottarashky and is his and Ushev's fourth collaboration.
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Bad Seeds is a Canadian animated short film, written, directed and animated by Claude Cloutier for the National Film Board of Canada. The short had its international premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and won multiple awards for Best Animated Short Film in Calgary International Film Festival and the 2021 New York City Short Film Festival and the Sommets du cinéma d'animation. The film was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for the 94th Academy Awards.
The River's Lazy Flow is a Canadian animated short film, directed by Joël Vaudreuil and released in 2013. The film centres on an older man who is at a river cabin with his family, and begins to reminisce about his teenage experience when he had a crush on a girl for the first time.
Marie. Eduardo. Sophie. is a Canadian short animated film, directed by Thomas Corriveau and released in 2023. His second experiment in animating dance following 2021's They Dance With Their Heads , the film is an animated rendition of a dance work performed by professional dancers Marie Mougeolle, Eduardo Ruiz Vergara and Sophie Corriveau.