Having 'horns', 'tails', 'fins' or 'wings' will bring one's death, while the central streets of Schirkoa are forbidden to immigrants in this imaginary world ruled by intellectuals. Identities dilute under 'head-bagged' silhouettes, personal dreams and aspirations are sacrificed for the sake of a trivial ordinary society meant to copycat the citizens' lives; love is just a moment of lust and eventually an instrument used to turn in the beloved ones and secure one's own social and political ascension.
Sprinkled with allegories such as 'bags' worn on one's head to level identities, 'wings' as a way to 'fly above others' in a standardising society, or 'horns' as a symbol of the demonic metamorphosis borne by those spiritually vitiated with their acts of betrayal, and reigned by a masterfully aestheticised graphic, generously and thoroughly depicting an entire world with a fascinating obsession for details - such as the cigarette leaving behind twin loops of smoke or posters spread around the imagined city reflecting the war between the two sides (intelectuals and immigrants) -, Ishan Shukla's 'SCHIRKOA' is simply mesmerising.
There is no mercy shown to the characters in this animated micro-cosmos: a whore, citizen 197(A) - just another number in a row of anonymities and 'the white witch', an 'immigrant' maybe, who discovered her true self or whom she wants to be and tries to hide it in order to spare herself of the 'Schirkonian'-style trial. The characters themselves seem to be mirroring the perverted nature of the world they are part of.
A memorable dystopian 'pastoral' is the scene of the flying paper planes covering the sky, launched from the roof by citizen 197(A) and 'the white witch' living their secret idyll - another suggestion of the suppressed ideals hindered from their right to have recourse to imagination in order to manifest themselves freely and unable to find a better way of emerging otherwise than through 'empty' hovering paper shapes.
SPOILERS:
Another ineffaceable moment is the transformation of 197(A) into a 'beelzebub' - a demon becoming aware of itself when every 'bag' around him starts to 'ignite' in his presence and who, attempting to perhaps 'withdraw' the deed that led to this, travels to the place of the trial of his betrayed partner only to face the final outcome of his actions and embrace his true identity, take his true shape. The 'beelzebub' is the ultimate product of the society of Schirkoa, it is what this dystopian society turns its individuals into. In spiritual mythology 'beelzebub' is identified as one of the 7 princes of hell and often as the second in command after Lucifer. It would be hard to imagine this is just a random thing in Ishan Shukla's comprehensive vision but we will spoil no more of the thick layers of meanings and mythology lying underneath and leave the pleasure of having them discovered for the public's own delight.
SPOILERS end.
There are many 'watersheds' in 'SCHIRKOA', powerfully dramatising the story and endowing it with many twists and turns. It is a true roller-coaster of emotions that enchants, surprises and contradictorily also shocks, intrigues and even frightens a bit. It will lift you and throw you to the ground. It is intense, engaging and reality- detaching in under 15 minutes. A short (animation) film in its pure nature, epic and ample! This must be one of the top 3 animations of 2016 - if not the best itself. Outstanding work!
-Be Epic! London International Film Festival
Sprinkled with allegories such as 'bags' worn on one's head to level identities, 'wings' as a way to 'fly above others' in a standardising society, or 'horns' as a symbol of the demonic metamorphosis borne by those spiritually vitiated with their acts of betrayal, and reigned by a masterfully aestheticised graphic, generously and thoroughly depicting an entire world with a fascinating obsession for details - such as the cigarette leaving behind twin loops of smoke or posters spread around the imagined city reflecting the war between the two sides (intelectuals and immigrants) -, Ishan Shukla's 'SCHIRKOA' is simply mesmerising.
There is no mercy shown to the characters in this animated micro-cosmos: a whore, citizen 197(A) - just another number in a row of anonymities and 'the white witch', an 'immigrant' maybe, who discovered her true self or whom she wants to be and tries to hide it in order to spare herself of the 'Schirkonian'-style trial. The characters themselves seem to be mirroring the perverted nature of the world they are part of.
A memorable dystopian 'pastoral' is the scene of the flying paper planes covering the sky, launched from the roof by citizen 197(A) and 'the white witch' living their secret idyll - another suggestion of the suppressed ideals hindered from their right to have recourse to imagination in order to manifest themselves freely and unable to find a better way of emerging otherwise than through 'empty' hovering paper shapes.
SPOILERS:
Another ineffaceable moment is the transformation of 197(A) into a 'beelzebub' - a demon becoming aware of itself when every 'bag' around him starts to 'ignite' in his presence and who, attempting to perhaps 'withdraw' the deed that led to this, travels to the place of the trial of his betrayed partner only to face the final outcome of his actions and embrace his true identity, take his true shape. The 'beelzebub' is the ultimate product of the society of Schirkoa, it is what this dystopian society turns its individuals into. In spiritual mythology 'beelzebub' is identified as one of the 7 princes of hell and often as the second in command after Lucifer. It would be hard to imagine this is just a random thing in Ishan Shukla's comprehensive vision but we will spoil no more of the thick layers of meanings and mythology lying underneath and leave the pleasure of having them discovered for the public's own delight.
SPOILERS end.
There are many 'watersheds' in 'SCHIRKOA', powerfully dramatising the story and endowing it with many twists and turns. It is a true roller-coaster of emotions that enchants, surprises and contradictorily also shocks, intrigues and even frightens a bit. It will lift you and throw you to the ground. It is intense, engaging and reality- detaching in under 15 minutes. A short (animation) film in its pure nature, epic and ample! This must be one of the top 3 animations of 2016 - if not the best itself. Outstanding work!
-Be Epic! London International Film Festival
