Fighting Pablo

A young artist is working on a portrait when an unexpected moment of frustration and doubt shatters his inspiration. Distracted by his own curiosity, he suddenly finds himself engulfed by a grande parade. Buzzing characters spirited from contemporary pop-culture and art-history crystallize out of the air. Unable to resist the charismatic pull of this vast and grotesque world, he joins in on an exploration through his own colorful ambitions. But when Pablo Picasso’s terrific charisma ends up threatening everything he holds dear, he learns to push back in order to rediscover his own voice.

Written, Directed & Animated by Robbe Vervaeke
Produced by Sarah D’hanens & Barend Weyens
Original Music by Ruben De Gheselle
Re-recording Mixer & Sound Design by Jef Aerts

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

Official Selection Brussels Animation Film Festival ANIMA 2018, Belgium
Official Selection Cortoons Festival Gandia 2018, Spain
Official Selection Anim!arte, International Student Animation Festival of Brazil 2018, Brazil
Honorable Mention World Cultures Program
Official Selection BIAF | Bucheon International Animation Festival 2018, Korea
Official Selection Cinanima | Festival Internacional de Cinema de Animação 2018, Portugal
Official Selection ReAnimania International Animation Film and Comics Art Festival of Yerevan 2018, Armenia
Honorable Mention Best Short Film
Official Selection Animax Skopje Fest, Macedonian International Animation Festival 2018, Republic of Macedonia
Official Selection International Short Film Festival Leuven 2019, Belgium
Official Selection Moscow Shorts 2019, Russia
Official Selection Athens Animfest 2019, Greece
Official Selection Animatiba Festival 2019, Brazil
2019 Anim!arte Grand Prix, Jury Award for Best Animation Technique
Official Selection Festivart 2019 - Short Film Night, Greece
Official Selection La Guarimba International Film Festival 2019, Italy
Official Selection ANIM'EST International Animation Film Festival 2019, Romania
Official Selection CRAFT International Animation Festival 2019, Java - Indonesia
Official Selection International Film Festival Braunschweig 2019, Germany
Official Selection Les Nuits Magiques 2019, France
Official Selection Palm Springs International Animation Festival & Expo 2019, USA
Official Selection Short Film Breaks Festival 2020, Romania
Winner Golden Elephant Award for Best Animated Short Film
in consideration for selection in other festivals

ROBBE VERVAEKE

Director Robbe Vervaeke graduated from the School of Arts with the hand-painted animated short film 'Erszebet' (2008). Continuing to refine his unique approach to the medium while working on his debut film 'Norman' (2012), the film went on to successfully tour the international short film festival circuit and took home the Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for Best Debut Prize at the prestigious Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France.

For his long-awaited new film, Vervaeke wanted to once again wed his passion for film and painting but he also felt it was time to challenge his signature style even further. Exploring a formal strategy that breaks away from the traditional frame-by-frame approach used in any other hand-painted film —even his own previous works— he developed a unique choreography that permits for more space between the individual drawings. By expertly staging the changing expressions and allowing room for the viewer to actually enter the emotion, he created an uncanny instability that feels true to how emotional expressivity works. 'Fighting Pablo' (2018) is a journey in masterful pacing and intense energy that escalates on its own internal logic. A deep dive into ones unconscious, focussing on a mood or visible segment of life that appears and then disappears, much like the ongoing events around us as we live them.