We’re pleased to announce our European festival debut at the Science + Fiction Festival della fantascienza in Trieste, Italy.
The film screens out of competition in the European Shorts program tonight, Friday November 12th.
We’re curious to know how the film plays with Italian subtitles…
Special thanks to Luca Luisa and everyone at the festival!
Since its online debut in April, The Anachronism has been invited to screen at several film festivals and science fiction conventions including:
VCON: Vancouver’s Convention of Science Fiction and Fantasy
The Tri City Independent/Fan Film Festival
Balticon: The Baltimore Science Fiction Film Festival (The film placed 5th out of 15 live action shorts.)
Thanks to the programers that invited us and the audiences that checked out of the film!
“A Beautiful Steampunk Vision comes to life” – QUIET EARTH
“The Anachronism is more than worth the 15 minutes you need to set aside to watch it.” - GIZMODO
“We want to live in this Robot Squid Submarine” – IO9 (Also check out the I09 gallery of stills from The Anachronism.)
“As haunting as it is beautiful.” – THE DAILY GUMBOOT
“Very wonderfully designed.” - MAKING THE MOVIE
“The latest full-blooded Scientific Romance in a long line. That it stars children leads one to implicate it favourably with other children’s films of emotional, philosophical and aesthetic heft, such as The Adventures of Mark Twain and the works of Karel Zeman and Hayao Miyazaki.” - VOYAGES EXTRAORDINAIRE
“The only thing wrong with it is that it isn’t longer. … I’ll just give you one warning: this is a filmmaker who, unlike many others, knows how to let a mystery rest undisturbed. Yes, the film leaves you curious as heck, but in the end, I think that’s a much better place to be than stuck with an ultimately disappointing/implausible overexplanation that drains the film of its atmosphere. So I’m torn. I’m love to see this expanded into a full-length feature film. …and yet I think it’s perfect as it is. Let’s hope that either way, we see a lot more from Long.” -BIOEPHEMERA
“A well told little tale, with a surprisingly sinister ending. What it really comes down to is this: mechanical squid. Like you’re going to pass that by.” – COILHOUSE
In a considered review of the film, Victoriana blog Voyages Extraordinaires questioned the film’s association with the Steampunk aesthetic:
“Director Matthew Gordon Long has gone to pains to describe the short as a “Steampunk” film for marketing purposes, but with all due respect to him I would disagree. For instance, no one is wearing goggles in it. Nor are there air pirates, nor is the mysterious Septopus made entirely out of brass.”
“I would argue, The Anachronism goes beyond the rules and roles affixed to a set of costumers and the Industrial Age Urban Fantasy they model their costumes on. Rather, [its] themes, settings and historical recollections place it as the latest full-blooded Scientific Romance in a long line.”
The blog’s own commenters don’t seem to agree. Which term do you think more accurately describes the film: Scientific Romance or Steampunk?
If your antennae were properly tuned (forgive the anachronism) over the past fortnight, then your sensors might have detected a faint ripple of Anachro-awareness spreading across the planet. In some ways competition for a share of the viral audience is more fierce and fickle than going the film festival route. So far, in our campaign to distract attention from sneezing pandas and coupling otters, we’re very happy with the progression of our very own viral “15 minutes”.
As of this post, The Anachronism has been viewed by 36,868 people in 100 countries.
TOP TEN COUNTRIES:
1. USA (16,914 viewers)
2. JAPAN (5,887 viewers)
3. CANADA (2,448 viewers)
4. GREAT BRITAIN (1,542 viewers)
5.GERMANY (952 viewers)
6. POLAND (927 viewers)
7. AUSTRALIA (599 viewers)
8. ITALY (525 viewers)
9. SOUTH KOREA (485 viewers)
10. FRANCE (482)
***SPOILERS***
Viewer comments have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic, with many new fans seeking out further discussion about the mysteries of the film, in particular the Japanese voice message and the references to the Pioneer spacecraft mission.
A great deal of blog-love has surfaced. What’s surprising to us is that, beyond attracting interest from film lovers and science fiction fans, the bulk of our online audience has emerged in the science and technology communities. It seems we’ve managed to appeal to fresh audiences who are not actively in the habit of seeking out shorts.
The Film has been compared to the works of a diverse slate of artists including Peter Weir, Hiyao Mizayaki, Alan Moore, Jane Campion and even British Columbia’s own mother-goddess of painting, Emily Carr.
Many thanks to everyone who has shared their enthusiasm for the film!
The Anachronism, released online under a creative commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike License.
Special thanks to everyone who helped make the Surfacing such a fabulous event, both in Vancouver and online!
After two months of international blog buzz, The Anachronism debuts online tonight at 9:00pm PST at www.theanachronism.com.
The online launch is timed to coincide with Septopus, a steampunk-themed celebration taking place at Chapel Art in Vancouver.
Watch the film, join us for the party, and visit our Facebook fanpage to leave comments, thoughts, reviews and reactions. We’re excited to get feedback!
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