If you’re heading to the Cannes Film Festival and just taking a look at the official selection, you’re only getting a very small sampling of a plethora of movie options at your disposal on the Croisette. The Cannes market has a boatload of films (if you can manage to squeeze into any of the industry/buyer only screenings), there’s numerous special programs and there’s also the Critic’s Week sidebar focusing on first and second directors (with “Take Shelter” taking the top prize this year). So given all the distraction, a new animated short co-directed by Spike Jonze completely missed our radar.
Entitled “Mourir Aupres de Toi (To Die Next)” Jonze co-directed the six minute film with Simon Cahn and co-wrote it with Olympia Le-Tan. The latter is probably best known for her handmade clutches, but here she spins a tale in a Paris bookshop where the characters in the books on the shelves come to life at night. Sounds pretty sweet and the images and teaser below certainly point at something lighthearted. We imagine this will do the film fest circuit for the next little while so hopefully we can catch up with it down the road. But if you’re hankering for more Jonze goodness, just remember his Arcade Fire short “Scenes From The Suburbs” will part of their deluxe package of The Suburbs hitting your local shop in August. [via IndieWire]
After sunset, an old Parisian bookseller closes his little shop. The characters from the books displayed on the shelves suddenly come to life. Dracula’s girlfriend Mina and Macbeth’s skeleton fall in love.