Lately, every animation I watch makes me think of my good friend Rocha. He makes muñequitos, the word we have for animations in Colombia. This week's morning movie was marvelous "Fantastic Planet," the Czech animated film that won the special jury prize in 1973 Cannes Festival. It was my second animated movie of the week. The first one was "El Monstruo (The Monster)," a short film made by Rocha, which now is a contestant in the II International Festival of Animation Online 2009.
I went to college with Rocha and I can assure he has always been a good kid, meaning he has well managed the child energy around each one of us. He is a man of noble thoughts, cosmic conscience and bitter sense of humor (because a good kid must bite). He is also an accessible intellectual. A chat with him last hours on a myriad of topics. To give you an idea, he lent me two essentials readings: a Bernard Shaw's book of aphorisms and Subcomandante Marcos' "Relatos del viejo Antonio."
I have enjoyed Rocha creativity as much as his personality. I was lucky of being next to him in class and work projects together. During the nights we stayed up late, we laughed our heads off with silly comments on our surroundings. Must of his work has a horrifying tenderness in which he subtly shows his ethics (well, he is more explicit in his political satire series "Pequeño tirano.") He is also simple and direct like his article-noun titles as I recalled his photo-story "La Cena (The Dinner)."
"El Monstruo" is Rocha's latest piece. It is a short animated film based on a childhood memory, one of my favorite themes. It is a tight story seasoned with scary urban life ingredients like psycho cab drivers, and has a deserved critic to the money driven mentality. This kid bites!
You can watch "El Monstruo" at Animacam.tv. There are many animations to watch. If you want to vote you need to register. Rocha's piece is under the Short Film category, just look for the image of the little girl I put above. You are going to love that sweet creature.
