Bitter Sweet Animated Short Film - LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

View fullsize

Today's animated short film was written and directed by Ben Brand, and its a wonderfully animated film with a thought provoking premise. It tells a bitter sweet story that deals with some heavy subject matter that the director explains in the description below. The short is inspired by his own personal beliefs of the afterlife that you may or may not share. Regardless of what your beliefs on this subject matter are though, it's still worth checking out. 

Anton may be done with life, but life ain’t done with Anton. In his convincing decision to change his measly existence he discovers the real greatness of life.

The question what will happen after we die is one that I, and many others on this world, ask myself on a regular basis. Will this transition to a next existence, which some of us have lived our whole life for, be a disappointment or could there even be nothing? Of course I also can’t give you an answer, but I can try through showing ' Life is Beautiful '.

The idea behind 'Life is Beautiful' is to show the parallels between faith in Heaven & Hell and my personal belief in reincarnation. After death we all leave our body and our energy or spirit travels further to a next place. I do believe in the existence of a heaven and hell, only not in a "Heaven" above the clouds or a "hell" deep underground. I think both are here on Earth, it just depends on what you make of life. 

Although topics like suicide and the afterlife maybe heavy, the film is supposed to be a funny, tragicomic film for young and old. Anton’s situation maybe very sad, but the playful design make it light and funny. I think you can compare it to the characters in the films of the Coen Brothers. These are often plagued by their appearance, the situation and the way they are portrayed. While being entertained, you feel sorry for them at the same time.

The short was made in support of the dutch filmfund and the NTR. It's part of the NTR SHORT! competition, and it premiered at the Dutch Film festival 2013 in Utrecht.

Anton may be done with life, but life ain’t done with Anton. In his convincing decision to change his measly existence he discovers the real greatness of life. 'Life is Beautiful' is a 3D animation short made with support of the dutch filmfund and the NTR. It's part of the NTR SHORT! competition that premiered at the Dutch Film festival 2013 in Utrecht. For artwork and more information go to: https://www.facebook.com/Life.is.beautiful.theshort Dutch Filmfestival 2013-09 Utrecht (Netherlands) Nomination debute competition Shortcutz Filmfestival 2014-04 Amsterdam (Netherlands) HAFF Filmfestival 2014-04 Utrecht (Netherlands) Dresden international Filmfestival 2014-05 Dresden (Germany) Toronto International Animation Festival 2014-07 Toronto (Canada) Nothwest Animation Festival 2014-07 Portland (USA) Short Shorts international filmfestival 2014-06 Tokyo (Japan) Writer / Director: Ben Brand Co-writer: Ilse Ott Animation studio: Fube Producer: Niels Scheide / Rogier Dorant Executive Producers: Jacques Vereecken / Sander Heeroma Head of production: Liesbeth Timmer Line Producer: Percy Tienhooven Art Director: Vincent bisschop Technical Director:Jasper van Nieuwenhuizen Compositing: Koos Dekker Rendering:Sebastiaan van Hesteren Animatic: Percy Tienhoven Animation: Rik Schutte Animation: Nanda van Dijk Animator: Piebe van der storm Licht & Shading: Ruud Coenen Shading: Dimitar Kralev Sound Design: Dennis Kersten Editor: Wietse de Zwart Music Composed by: Christiaan Verbeek Aditional Artwork: Lois van Baarle Moddeling: Kjeld Slingeland / Vinnie Portier Special thnx to: NMTRX ANIMATION STUDIOS Michael Visser Patrick Nijman Johan Boekhoven