Donato Sansone's animated short 'Bavure' shortlisted for French César Awards

Donato Sansone's 2018 animated short 'Bavure' has been included in the preliminary shortlist for the Best Short Film category at the upcoming César Awards, France's equivalent of the Oscars. The film previously won awards at international festivals, including the 43rd Cinanima animation festival in Espinho, Portugal. The four finalists will be announced on January 28. In the meantime, production company Autour de Minuit, in collaboration with Canal+, has made the short available on its YouTube channel for the entire month. Sansone, born in 1974, is praised for his rare talent in constructing a narrative rich in meaning and allusions from simple color spreads. The film uses a simple stain or doodle as a symbol of chaos that takes form, referencing horror and sci-fi classics like David Cronenberg's 'eXistenZ' and Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'. 'Bavure' serves as a metaphor for the creative act and the mystery of life itself. The animation features continuous metamorphoses and blends, perfectly synchronized with the sound design by Enrico Ascoli, a frequent collaborator who was also awarded for this work at the Zabut Festival in Messina. The result evokes the painting of Francis Bacon and the existentialist aesthetic of animation legend Jan Švankmajer, underscoring the work's high poetic value.