Shakespeare In A Whole New Way

Bruce Von Stiers

There is this short, 2D animation film that is really cool. It runs a little over two and a half minutes and is chock full of imagery of the plays of William Shakespeare.

The title of this animated film is Shakespeare For All Ages.

The film sets out to provide a glimpse of the plays of Shakespeare without the drudgery of lengthy discussions or explanations of the characters. The description for the film indicates the target audience are the people who are tethered to their phones and don't have time to absorb the full extent of Shakespeare's plays. The film does this well with two-dimensional animation, some fun interpretations of various Shakespeare plays and a killer soundtrack that has a bit of jazz and some modern music.

The film lists that Othello and the Jazz Cats provide the music for it. I think the filmmaker was poking fun at things a bit.

I recognized a few of the plays that were depicted in the film. One of those was Julius Caesar. Another was Othello and then there was Romeo and Juliet. Antony and Cleopatra had a comic bit and the most famous line from Richard III was on the screen, being said by the play's title character.

I wasn't familiar with several of the other plays depicted. One of the segments featured the Trojan horse from the Trojan War. I looked that one up, which is from Shakespeare's play, Troilus and Cressida.

At the end of the film there is a nod to Star Trek's with the starship Enterprise.

The film was written, directed, produced and designed by Hannes Rall. He also did the storyboarding and blocking. A research chair and professor at the top Singapore university, Rall has a solid reputation as a director of independent animated films. His films have been shown at over nine hundred festivals and he's garnered over ninety awards for them.

The animation was done by Khoo Siew May and Jay Septimo. May won several awards for her work on the animated film One More Time. Septimo is a cel animator and motion graphic designer. He and May have an animation design studio named Jammm.

The music, sound design and film mix were done by Patrick Kuhn Botelho. And the mastering was done by Raphael Lott.

The production of the film was aided by funding from the German Federation Film Board in Berlin, Germany.

Shakespeare For All Ages is a fun, entertaining film. At just under three minutes in length, It is kind of a micro Cliff Notes take on classic Shakespeare plays. The 2D animation is terrific, the music is great and there is tongue-in-cheek humor throughout the film.

Having made the rounds at several film festivals, the film has won Best Short Fim Animation, Best Animation Film and Best Film in the Ultrashort category.

The film will be featured at the Syracuse International Film Festival at the end of September 2024. It will also be featured at the Hoboken Film Festival in October. And the film has been submitted for possible inclusion at this year's Santa Clarita International Film Festival.

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© 2024 Bruce E Von Stiers