Mario, 2014, 2’54’’, HD video (paint)

Playground songs from one’s childhood leave an indelible mark. This song that we chanted haunted me into adulthood, and for good reason. It tells the story of a soldier who returns from war, finds his girlfriend has left him, and decides to kill her. The seriousness of the story is contradicted by the blitheness of our children’s game. Could it have really happened? This experimental animated film pulls the song back into the present moment, using swirling, morphing paint that blurs the line between real and unreal, fact and fiction, playground game and history.

Credits:

Film by Tess Martin
“Tutti Mi Chiaman Mario”, traditional, sung by Anna Uberti with Emily Jane Tolimieri and Vittorio D. Mount.
Score by Jason Staczek
Made possible by 4Culture

SCREENINGS:
Bologna in Lettere International Poetry & Video Art Festival, online, May 10, 2024
Aftermath: animations exploring war, conflict and loss, New Walk Museum, Leicester, UK, Oct 6 2018 & Centrala, Birmingham, UK, Nov 3, 2018
Dawson City International Short Film Festival, Canada, April 13-16, 2017
Animanima International Animation Festival, Haptic special program, Cacak, Serbia, Sept 7-11, 2016
Animation Attack!, Atlanta, GA, May 21, 2016
Cartoons & Bloody Marys, Seattle Transmedia & Independent Film Festival, Seattle, WA, March 26, 2016
Belgrade Film Festival, Belgrade, Serbia, March 20-26, 2016
GIRAF Festival of Independent Animation, Calgary, Canada, Nov 26-29, 2015
New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival, Chitose, Japan, Oct 31-Nov 3, 2015
Factual Animation Film Fuss, London, UK, Sept 26-27, 2015
AnimaSyros International Animation Festival, Syros, Greece, Sept 24-27, 2015
Animacursed: International Festival of Darkness Animation for Adults, Rio de Janeiro, Sept 03-13, 2015; Sao Paolo, Sept 24-26, 2015
Countryside Animafest Cyprus Festival, July 13-18, 2015
Anima Mundi, Rio de Janeiro, July 10-15, São Paulo, July 17-22 
Melbourne International Animation Festival, Melbourne, Australia, June 26-28, 2015
Brooklyn Film Festival, NY, May 31-June 2, 2015
Animasivo, Mexico City, Mexico, May 27-31, 2015
Short Circuit Festival, Victoria, BC, Canada, May 8-9, 2015
Sunscreen Film Festival, St. Petersburg, FL, April 30-May 3, 2015
Holland Animation Film Festival, Utrecht, the Netherlands, March 18-22, 2015
Victoria Film Festival, Victoria, BC, Canada, Feb 6-15, 2015
Black Maria Film + Video Festival and Tour, NJ, February, 2015 – WINNER: Director’s Choice 3rd Prize
ANIMATEKA, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Dec 8-14, 2014
CouchFest Films, worldwide, Dec 6, 2014.
zwergWERKchen, Oldenburg, Germany, Nov 30, 2014
St Louis International Film Festival, St Louis, MO, USA, Nov 23, 2014
Bradford Animation Festival, Bradford, UK, Nov 17-22, 2014
DOK Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, Oct 27-Nov 2, 2014
Local Sightings Film Festival, Seattle, WA, Sept 30, 2014 – WINNER, Best Short Film
Moonrise Film Festival, Wells, BC, Canada, August 7-10, 2014
Seattle International Film Festival, Seattle, USA, May 24, 2014