Within the world of animation, most experimentation occurs within short format productions, whether they are high-budgeted commercials, low-budgeted independent shorts or something in between. The growing number of short film festivals around the world attest to the vitality of these works, but there are few other venues for exhibition of them or even written reviews. As a result, distribution tends to be difficult and irregular. On a regular basis, Animation World Magazine will highlight some of the most interesting with short, descriptive overviews.

The Runt (2006), 10:05, by Andreas Hydade (Germany). Contact: Andreas Hykade, Ostendstrasse 106, 70188 Stuttgart, Germany. [D] andreas@hykade.de [F] 0049.(0)711.489.1925 [W] www.hykade.de

One D (2005), 4:38, by Mike Grimshaw (Canada). Contact: Mike Grimshaw, Oddsock Cartoons [T] 1.250.475.3542 [E] oddsock@telus.net

Africa Parting (2006), 8:10, by Robynn Alice Yannoukos (South Africa) and Brian LoSchiavo (U.S.). Contact: Robynn Alice Yannoukos and Brian LoSchiavo, darkRay Productions [T] 310.254.4442; 310.367.3225 [E] info@africaparting.com [W] www.africaparting.com

Crossing the Stream (2006), 4:00, by Skip Battaglia (U.S.). Contact: Skip Battaglia, 105 Meredith Ave., Rochester, N.Y. 14618 [E] skipb@frontiernet.net

Changing Evan (2006), 1:14, by Steven Woloshen (Canada). Contact: Steven Woloshen, 5787 Rue Cartier, Montreal, Canada [T] 514.270.3563 [E] swoloshen@hotmail.com

A boy comes to grief after playing with his food in The Runt. © Andreas Hykade.

The Runt
Andreas Hykade has explored some startlingly personal territory in his last three longform short subjects. We Lived in Grass was a stick-figure nightmare vision of domestic strife, where a boy whose father is dying of testicular cancer wanders the plains by day and falls in love with a dandelion girl; Ring of Fire depicted an alpha-male cowboy and his submissive sidekick and their misadventures in a surrealistic garden of sexual delights; now, in his latest short The Runt, a boy comes to the end of the age in his life when he was still able to treat the family livestock as pets.

A boy, a dad and a monster-sized Uncle live in an abstract plateau where they raise rabbits. They boy is stick arms and legs coming out of an oval body, with two dots for a face and a frizzy shock of hair. Dad is basically a taller version of the boy, only with hair loss. Uncle is something much bulkier, a giant inverted U with a head and arms, and as big as a car. One day, their two-rabbit farm increases in population by three. Mom and Dad rabbit are regular white-furred creatures, and so are the first two offspring, but the third newborn is a tiny blue runt. Uncle grabs it to seal in a sack -- perhaps to throw in the river -- but the boy cries out in protest.

Uncle agrees to spare it, but only on the condition that the boy tends to it for one year -- and when the year is done, he must kill it. The boy agrees. In the next 10 lyrical minutes, we peek into tiny episodes from the year that follows: boy lies on his back and bounces rabbit on his upturned legs. Uncle disappears into the basement with Mom and Dad rabbit. Boy watches rabbit's nose twitch. Uncle comes up from basement with two rabbit skins and two cooked rabbits. Uncle and Dad tuck in to cooked rabbits while wearing the skins on their heads. Boy bounces rabbit -- now much heavier -- in the air.

Knowing the year is almost up, one evening the boy strokes the runt's fur protectively, then lets it go and watches it bound away into the sunset. Uncle wakes the boy the next morning. "The year is up," he says sepulchrally. The boy turns to look at the runt's cage. It's come back home in the night; its nose calmly twitches.

Boy and uncle take the runt to the basement, where there are stirrups and a club. Uncle hangs the rabbit by its feet in the stirrups. "Kill it quickly!" he hisses, but it's already begun to beat its head against the wall in terror. The runt is staring at the boy in panic with one blank eye, and the boy can barely lift the club. Finally his momentum dies entirely, and he is frozen in front of the increasingly bloody wall… In the end this boy grows up, which is something Hykade's characters have been doing consistently in all three parts of this animated trilogy. As you'd expect from Hykade, the animation is superb throughout; he has directed his usual large crew and created something with a perfect balance of movement and stillness that still conforms to his singular vision and style. It's a tough piece, not the least sentimental but entirely sympathetic, and heartbreaking to watch (and it'll be equally heartbreaking if all three of these shorts don't get a DVD release soon).