Folksongs & Ballads

This film, which is created entirely in CG, carefully depicts in great detail, with unsurpassed artistic ability, the daily life of an elderly fisherman who lives in an isolated fishing village. Irish folk songs resound strikingly throughout various scenes, such as the view of the sky at the instant when the sun rises, the depiction of an old lady sipping soup while her cheeks are lit by the setting sun, and the scene of the men gathered in the pub at night. It is the graduation work of students currently studying at Supinfocom Valenciennes, the French animation college.

A 3DCG animation echoing with the sound of Irish folk songs
Uilleann pipes and accordions play the folksongs of Ireland in a French setting, perhaps the outlying region of Bretagne. The scenery, though, is more Scotland than France: a desolate coast where seagulls glide low beneath a leaden sky. Another day of solitude begins for a stubborn Celtic seaman. When it draws to a close he rolls into his usual Irish pub, where he spends a happy time until the accordionist wakes from his drunken stupor the next morning. The work’s visually powerful 3D computer graphics, backed up by solid animation skills, carry it quickly through to its final horrible scene. The votes of the jury were drawn to an impressive show of ability that belies the hard-to-believe fact that the film was a student graduation project. Frankly speaking, the high degree of perfection seen in CG submissions from several French animation schools suggests a strong awareness of these works’ portfolio function when approaching international feature film productions.