Naiade

How beautiful and creepy is this short film. It's an animation produced by French cult company Autour de Minuit and directed by Nadia Micault, Lorenzo Nanni.

Naiade. Ava reigns over a swamp where fairy creatures live… A strange boy secretly observes her flourishing kingdom, trying to figure out a way to save the life of his sick twin brother…

It played at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and International Youth Film Festival of Gijon. It reminds me a lot of Henry Selick's flicks like The Nightmare Before Christmas and the new Coraline, but there's something else entirely going on here. The constant flickery background makes the world seem completely unreliable, cute but untrustworthy. The porcelain character design is childlike and thoroughly disturbing. I'd love to see the film on a big screen, I think the sound design would blow me away.

Oh and did I mention that this is yet another brilliant video from Italy's QOOB.TV You can also find more from