Showing @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 6 Feb only
Vitalij Sichinava / UK / 2012 / 12 min
After a nomination for Best British Short Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2012 and screenings at other various international festivals, Vitalij Sichinava’s animated short Tea Party now returns to its hometown Edinburgh. Showing as part of the Manipulate Festival it’s followed by an insightful discussion between BAFTA nominated animator Iain Gardner and Sichinava himself, a recent graduate from Edinburgh College of Art. As a modern fable, Tea Party offers a stork’s perspective on love and loss. Once Stork was famous for giving the best tea parties but life seems to have turned against him and now he drowns his sorrows in alcohol and self-pity.
The film succeeds in combining a mature narrative with the appeal of children’s book’s illustrations. The elaborate mix of photo montage and digital filters creates an atmospheric, hand-drawn look that resembles washed-out watercolours. The influence of Sichinava’s idol Yuriy Norshteyn is obvious. But what sets this film apart is a unique tension between the surreal and the common. The protagonist is oddly recognisable and very human (despite being a stork) in his desperate attempt to cling on to his dignity, aided by Ainslie Henderson’s voice giving Stork’s drunken delivery a local tinge and gallows humour. Rounded off with soulful jazz tunes, Tea Party is big cinema on a small scale.
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