dir. Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, 2009, 75'
It is not very usual to find an animated film at the prestigious film festival in Cannes. Since the time when The Fantastic Planet of René Laloux was a winner, three decades have passed. The comeback has happened to the creators of A Town Called Panic, and it is the first film made with shift animation which has been introduced in Cannes.
The co-authors do not think about laurel wreaths from festivals, which is obvious if we watch some episodes from the eponymous series. Anarchy, absurdity and neverending humour – A Town Called Panic disposes with all of those. It is a film about a cowboy, an Indian and a pony. You do not have to be dramaturgically well-educated to understand already from this exposition that the paths the narrative travels are not composed of certainty and logic. The stream of ideas and playful Dada humour is not concerned with such things as boundaries and rationality. That is also one of the reasons why the series has its cult position, and the authors were inspired to bring the popular characters to the cinema screen. The enthusiastic reactions of audiences has shown that they made the right decision.
Lukáš Gregor
