| The Physics of Sorrow | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Theodore Ushev |
| Based on | The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov |
| Narrated by | Rossif Sutherland |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
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.
The Man Who Planted Trees is a 1987 Canadian short animated film directed by Frédéric Back. It is based on Jean Giono's 1953 short story The Man Who Planted Trees. This 30-minute film was distributed in two versions, French and English, narrated respectively by actors Philippe Noiret and Christopher Plummer, and produced by Radio-Canada.
Hunger/La Faim is a 1973/1974 animated short film produced by the National Film Board of Canada. It was directed by Peter Foldes and is one of the first computer animation films. The story, told without words, is a morality tale about greed and gluttony in contemporary society.
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.
John and Michael is a 2004 animated short by Shira Avni about two men with Down syndrome who share a loving relationship.
Runaway is a 2009 animated short by Canadian animator Cordell Barker. The film received a special jury award for short films at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and was named the best animated short film at the 2010 Genie Awards. In 2010 the film won the Yorkton Film Festival Golden Sheaf Award for Best Animation.
Lipsett Diaries is a 2010 short animated documentary about the life and art of collage filmmaker Arthur Lipsett, animated and directed by Theodore Ushev and written by Chris Robinson. The 14-minute film was produced by the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal, where Lipsett had worked from 1958 to 1972, before committing suicide in 1986. The film is narrated by Xavier Dolan.
Gloria Victoria is a 2013 3-D anti-war animated short by Theodore Ushev, produced in Montreal by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). A film without words set to the music of Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony, Victoria Gloria is final film in a trilogy of NFB animated shorts by Ushev on art, ideology and power, following Tower Bawher (2005) and Drux Flux (2008).
Me and My Moulton is a 2014 Canadian-Norwegian animated short film written and directed by Torill Kove. It premiered at the 2014 Annecy International Animated Film Festival on 10 June 2014. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 87th Academy Awards. Me and My Moulton won the Golden Sheaf Award for Best Animation at the 2015 Yorkton Film Festival.
Carface is a 2015 National Film Board of Canada animated short film by Claude Cloutier in which cars sing and dance while the Earth slides toward environmental ruin.
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.
The Burden is a Swedish independent animated drama short film directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr produced by Malade AB. It was released on 12 June 2017.
The Bronswik Affair is a 1978 Canadian short film, directed by Robert Awad and André Leduc for the National Film Board of Canada.
The Great Malaise is a Canadian animated short film, directed by Catherine Lepage and released in 2019. A meditation on depression and anxiety, the film centres on a woman describing her personality and hopes and dreams, initially in positive terms but becoming more tentative and uncertain as her anxieties and self-doubts emerge.
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.
