Loom: A Web of Horrors in 3D Animation

You’re not squea­mish, are you? A team of stu­dents at the Fil­makademie Baden-Würt­tem­berg, in Ger­many, has tak­en the aes­thet­ic sen­si­bil­i­ties of the hor­ror and action movie gen­res and import­ed them into the realm of the micro­scop­ic, cre­at­ing a stun­ning work of 3D ani­ma­tion called Loom, about a spi­der and a very unlucky moth. Direct­ed by Jan Bitzer, Ili­ja Brunck and Csa­ba Letay of the stu­dio Poly­noid, Loom presents a high­ly styl­ized depic­tion of the the sort of vio­lence that hap­pens all around us in nature, usu­al­ly beyond our notice. Loom and anoth­er short film (Der Besuch, by Aus­tri­an direc­tor Con­rad Tam­bour) shared first prize in the ani­mat­ed film cat­e­go­ry at last mon­th’s Sehsüchte Inter­na­tion­al Stu­dent Film Fes­ti­val in Pots­dam. Despite its daz­zling tech­ni­cal bril­liance, you may find the film to be a bit … creepy.