Creature Discomforts is a free monthly film series dedicated to the freaky, strange, and monstrous of international animation. Each feature is paired with shorts by local animators. Curated by Casper Lucia & Sarah Lanzillotta.
One of the great psychedelic masterpieces of world animation, Son of the White Mare is a swirling, color-mad maelstrom of mythic monsters and Scythian heroes, part-Nibelungenlied, part-Yellow Submarine, lit by jagged bolts of lightning and drenched in rivers of blue, red, gold and green. A massive cosmic oak stands at the gates of the Underworld, holding seventy-seven dragons in its roots; to combat these monsters, a dazzling white mare goddess gives birth to three heroes – Treeshaker and his brothers – who embark on an epic journey to save the universe. Directed by Hungarian animator Marcell Jankovics (famed for his 1974 Oscar-nominated short Sisyphus), Son of the White Mare has been restored in 4K using the original 35mm camera negative and sound elements by Arbelos in collaboration with the Hungarian National Film Institute – Film Archive.
Wishbone Zoe is a multimedia artist and muso from that legendary valley of indie rock lore in Western Massachusetts. Mostly self-taught, her compositions combine music both exploratory and songly, hand-drawn animation, performance art, drawings, video, soft sculpture, poetry and multi-media collage. She has been making music and touring since her mid-teen years, and has released three records of her own. Her 2020 release “French Of The Bird” (Sad Cactus Records), was accompanied by a live video performance piece and later an animated short film called “Here I’m”.
Wishbone has directed and animated over 20 music videos for musicians of widely differing genres and audiences and for her own music since 2018. Her animation is done freehand on paper and tablet with little digital intrusion, and leans heavily into the Gummo-verse, cartoonishness, the jarring mixture of media, pro-femme imagery, and coyote imagery. Her pieces have been shown at film festivals and events in such cities as Ottawa, Seattle, Salem MA, Liberec CZ, Paris, Oakland, and Los Angeles.
Wishbone writes for and plays with an econo-jamming punk rock trio based in Hadley, MA called EIEIEIO.
