Within the world of animation, most experimentation occurs within short format productions, whether they be 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.

This Month:

2+2 (2002), 11 min., directed by Benita Raphan and Clayton Hemmert, USA. Info: Benita Raphan, 101 W. 12th St., New York, NY 10011. Tel: 212-691-2877. Email: braphan@aol.com.

The Box (2000), 4.5 min., directed by Stefan Gronsky, USA.. Info: Stefan Gronsky, 7343 Waldo Lane, El Cerrito, CA 94530. Tel: 510-528-8452. Email: stfn@mac.com.

Jedné noci v jednom meste (One Night in One Town) (2000), 29 min., directed by Jan Balej, Czech Republic.. Info: Jan Balej, Na Václavce 48, Praha 5, 150 00 Czech Republic. Tel/Fax: 420-2-22221620. Email: vladimir.kroupa@worldonline.cz.

Token Life (2002), 4.5 min., directed by David Donar, USA. Info: Donar Productions, 7393 Sharp Rd., Swartz Creek, MI 48473. Tel: 810-610-8775. Email: ddonar@hotmail.com.

Window (2000), 10 min., directed by Victoria Livingstone, USA.. Info: victoria_livingstone@hotmail.com.

If you have the QuickTime plug-in, you can view a clip from each film by simply clicking the image.

© Benita Raphan.

2+2
This experimental documentary by Benita Raphan and Clayton Hemmert reviews the life and work of John Nash, the brilliant, schizophrenic mathematician who is also the subject of the feature film, A Beautiful Mind. 2+2 is a dense, multi-layered piece that presents a sometimes overwhelming amount of information on schizophrenia, game theory and other challenging subjects related to Nash. A dizzying array of abstract and representational images, fragments of text, and mathematical formulae are combined with an equally sophisticated soundscape of music, effects and voices (including those of academic experts) to create an impressionistic portrait of a complicated man. Ultimately I don't think it quite works -- the purposely elliptical presentation obfuscates more than it illuminates, and the disjunction between image and voiceover sometimes seems more random than meaningful. But it's an ambitious and thoughtful effort that pushes the boundaries and forces the viewer to do some work, which makes for a rewarding experience.

A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, Benita Raphan is an award-winning filmmaker and designer who until recently worked as an Inferno artist at Quiet Man in New York. Her diverse influences include the Brothers Quay, Chris Marker, Ingmar Bergman and Andrei Tarkovsky. Clayton Hemmert is an award-winning editor who has worked on documentaries for public television. This is his first directorial effort. Raphan notes that working on 2+2 with so many talented collaborators, including sound designer Marshall Grupp and composer Pierre Foldes, was a great experience.

2+2, which was created using Inferno, After Effects, Pro Tools and an Avid, screened at Sundance and the SXSW Festival, and has been shown on HBO.