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SYNOPSIS

Ouroboros spins a loose narrative of joy, grief, death and rebirth, all told through looping images printed on physical animation devices known as phonotropes. Much like the ouroboros, a symbolic snake that devours its own tail, everything in life is a loop.

This short film captures my ongoing fascination with physical animation devices known as phonotropes — a contemporary update on the 19th-century pre-cinema device, the zoetrope — which uses a record turntable and a video camera to capture the magic of the animated loops. Created during the various pandemic lockdowns and shot entirely on my smartphone, this short film visualizes perpetual cycles of beginnings, endings, and the inevitable reset of the loop.

AWARDS:

Best North American Animation, Female Eye Film Festival 2023.

Film Festival Screenings

• Distributor’s Screening, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen 2023, Oberhausen, Germany. 
• Special Program, Regensburg International Short Film Week 2023, Regensburg, Germany
• Official Selection, Female Eye Film Festival 2023, Toronto, ON
• Official Selection, Chicago Underground Film Festival 2023.
• Official Selection, Edinburgh Short Film Festival 2023.
• Official Selection, Bizarroland Film Festival 2023, Orlando, Florida.
• Official Selection, Femtasia Film Festival 2024, Los Angeles, California.

Directed & animated by Jennifer Linton
Music by Zev Farber

©2023 Papercut Pictures. All rights reserved.

Limited edition artist’s multiple playable vinyl phonotrope.

A limited edition artist’s multiple entitled Ouroboros:Tears is available for purchase in this blog’s online shop. The animated loops on the disc will play when viewed with a video camera, smartphone or tablet. The music on this record was created by Zev Farber. Be sure to watch the video below to see the full HD video and hear the music on the record. Edition size is 25. Price includes shipping in Canada and U.S. only.

CA$85.00.