Rob Munday

While film festivals provide fertile hunting ground for discoveries at Short of the Week, our favourite finds are often the shorts that bypass traditional distribution altogether and arrive directly online. Which is why we’re so excited about today’s pick: the World Premiere of Shahaf Ram’s independent animation Orange Story, a 17-minute science-fiction musical that completely floored the S/W team with its originality and ambition.

Ram’s talent isn’t exactly a surprise to us. Back in 2015, we praised his Bezalel Academy of Art & Design short This Is How It Starts for the way it “toy[ed] with the boundaries of traditional storytelling”. 11-years later, he’s returned to our pages with a film that may adopt a slightly more conventional narrative structure, but still feels unlike anything we’ve encountered before.

“The artistic language and narrative are meant to evoke the viewers into trying to bridge the gaps and see the wider picture”

Part science-fiction epic and part unexpected musical, it’s clear Orange Story is something special from its opening moments, in which a stranded astronaut pours his heart out to a crocodile. As the spaceman reveals the depths of his predicament to his unlikely reptilian confidant, Ram draws us into his world through fluid, kinetic animation and a hypnotic rhythm driven by its floaty, ethereal score.

For such an independent production – Ram takes on the vast majority of the film’s creative roles himself – and one with such an abstract core, it may come as a surprise to learn that its aesthetic was inspired by “traditional children’s stories of the past”. Citing both Winnie-the-Pooh and The Little Prince as key influences, the filmmaker credits their “colorful, bright, minimalist aesthetics” with helping shape the distinctive look of Orange Story.

“The minimalism and simplicity of the artistic language and narrative are meant to evoke the viewers into trying to bridge the gaps and see the wider picture,” Ram explains as we discuss his desire to create an active and imaginative viewing experience. By awakening adolescent memories in his audience, the filmmaker hopes that the restraint of both his storytelling and visual style – the latter he describes as a form of “classic animation” in danger of “becoming extinct” – might encourage viewers to reconnect with forgotten parts of their own pasts.

Whether that happens or not will ultimately depend on the individual viewer. However, despite the surreal nature of its storytelling, Orange Story offers plenty to connect with and even more to admire. Whether it’s the almost freeform approach to narrative, its unconventional love story, or its playful aesthetic, the film is undeniably the work of a singular voice. Its fiercely independent, do-it-yourself production model allows Ram to create entirely on his own terms, and that creative freedom can be felt in every frame.

With Ram currently six years into the production of his first feature, being developed in collaboration with Israeli director Gur Bentwich, and with a 12-episode adaptation of Orange Story reportedly “waiting in the drawer for a bright day”, we’re genuinely excited to see how his filmmaking continues to evolve over the next 11-years.