Reverso

Barney lives with his father in suburbia.  They rub along together, sharing the household chores, watching TV (old episodes of Doctor Who) and generally leading a quiet life.

Barney quietly mourns the loss of his mother and goes to work every day doing menial work for Megacorp. In other words, nothing unusual in this father-son set up that you might not find anywhere in the world. Yet there is something extraordinary about Barney.  He was born with an inverted sense of gravity and so everything he does is done upside down.

This is a subtle and nuanced work which bears more than one viewing.  It has plenty of little extras you might not notice first time (look at the poster in the screenshot, as an example!). Despite (or perhaps because of) its wordlessness it is both profound and occasionally Keaton-esque.  Please, please – stay on it until after the credits have finished otherwise you will not get to see the end!

This wonderful animated short was directed by Kimberly Honma, Clément Lauricella and Arthur Seguin at ARTFX, a higher education provider and training center for 3D computer graphics, 3D animation and digital special effects. Located in Montpellier (south of France) the school was created by professionals from the film, animation, video games and visual effects industries.