A film by Jan Snoekx
About the film
VOLTAIRE is a computer animated short about an insignificant weather cock living on a countryside chapel. One night he takes his chance to move to a beautiful cathedral, but unknowingly stumbles into a murder plot.
VOLTAIRE was written, designed and directed by Jan Snoekx.
To read more about how the project came to life and how the film was made, follow the blog.
Genre: Thriller / Comedy
Duration: 12 minutes
Technique: 3D computer animation
Format: HD, stereo
Language: No dialogue
Produced by Walking The Dog.
Co-produced by seriousfilm, XiOLA.
With the support of Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF)
and the Dutch Film Fund (NFF).
Reception
The film was very well received worldwide. It won first prize at major film festivals and was selected for the Academy Awards in 2017.
Festival juries have praised the film for the storytelling and impressive visuals.
“A perfect story – without words – about ambition and perseverance and how you don’t have to be a classic hero to claim your place in the world.”
Sofie Rycken, kortfilm.be
Official festival selections & awards
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia
Spain
London International Animation Festival
UK
New York International Children’s Film Festival
USA
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
France
Brussels Film Festival
Belgium
Heart of Gold International Short Film Festival
Australia
Cinekid Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Festival Enmut Barcelona
Spain
Leuven Kortfilm Festival
Belgium
Shortz Film Festival
Serbia
Anima Brussel
Belgium
Offscreen Film Festival
Belgium
“MAUVAIS GENRE” International Film Festival
France
MOTELX – Lisbon International Horror Film Festival
Portugal
Snit International Short Film Festival Bangkok | Bern | Buenos Aires | Cairo |Cape Town | Hong Kong | Moscow | San José | New York
Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF)
Belgium
Internationales Trickfilm Festival Stuttgart
Germany
Filmkunstfest Melkenburg-Vorpommern
Germany
Snake Alley Festival of Film
USA
Neum Animated Film Festival
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Cultuurzomer Tongeren
Belgium
ShorTS – International Film Festival
Italy
ShortsUP: Long Night of Short Films
Romania
Capalbio International Film Festival
Italy
Cartoon Club Rimini
Italy
Insomnia Festival Moscow
Russia
Festival Hongerige Wolf
The Netherlands
Supertoon Festival
Croatia
Little Big Shots
Australia
Hiroshima 2016
Japan
Ars Electronica Animation Festival
Austria
Brazil’s Kids Film Festival
Brazil
Shnit International Shortfilmfestival
Switzerland
Festival du premier court-métrage de Pontault-Combault
France
Tri-Cities International Film Festival
USA
International Festival of Film Producers Regiofun
Poland
Lund Fantastisk Filmfestival
Sweden
Anima Mundi
Brazil
Tindirindis
Lithuania
Bogoshorts – Bogotá Short Film Festival
Colombia
Tehran International Animation Festival
Iran
BOGOSHORTS Movement
Colombia
VAFI – International Children and Youth Animation Film Festival
Croatia
About the visual style
The film is a clever combination of 3D computer animation, large format photography and matte paintings projected onto 3D geometry.
The visual mood, the character designs and 3D rendering were inspired by the works of Alfred Hitchcock, Jim Henson and Caspar David Friedrich.
“The animation – a combination of 3D, matte painting and photography – is world class.”
Sofie Rycken, kortfilm.be
Blog
Research on genre: thriller and horror stories.
Pinning down the genre for a story or film can give a solid reference frame for story writing problems. Instead of trying to force a story, I turned to genre. I always liked horror and suspense films, so a started doing some research…
Discovering writing is very hard – the first genesis of VOLTAIRE
This blog entry is about making an independent animated film and losing my sanity along the way. And what I learned. So how do you start writing a story from scratch? How do you find the right story? What should it be about? Do you make the plot structure first, or does story come from some…
Step 1: writing a film
This blog entry is part of the process of making an independent animated film and losing your sanity along the way. The mistakes I made and what I learned from it. So I started writing my film. Ideas came quickly and were great. As long as I didn’t let anyone else read my first draft…
Voltaire, a film by Jan Snoekx 