Meet ESMA at the UTOPIALES!

ESMA has been taking part in Utopiales for several years now, and this collaboration bears witness to the relevance of animation as a tool for exploring imaginary worlds, which are often explored at Utopiales.

ESMA, with its expertise in the field of animated film, offers a new perspective to this universe by highlighting the work of its students.

One of the highlights of this collaboration is the round table entitled ‘How to observe and interpret changes in the animal world’. This interdisciplinary project brings together the talents of students from ESMA and the ONIRIS school (specialising in veterinary and agri-food science).
Together, they have studied the mutations in insects caused by environmental change and put forward an artistic interpretation.
You can discover their observations and experiments in the form of sketches, images, posters and research notebooks. This work forms the basis of a research-creation project to design 3D insects as part of ESMA students’ 3rd year of study.
These observation sessions took place at the Nantes Natural History Museum. The round table will be chaired by Véronique Lenouvel and Suzanne Bastian, and promises a fascinating exchange between science and art.

On Saturday 2 November at 12.45pm, ESMA will be screening films made by its students on the theme of ‘Other Worlds’. In these short films, the students have explored universes where the natural cycle is disrupted and the perception of reality altered. In these worlds, the instinct to survive and the quest for humanity are felt through singular stories.

You will discover :

• Vidalia: The only survivors of a massacred village, Cal and Vidalia venture into the hostile forest to find the inhabitants.
  Directed by Enzo Regardin, Bastien L’Hourre, Tabatha Hugues, Emile Lachkar, Constance Cartaut, Morgane Jolivel, Céline Soubrane, Camille Borg, Diane Hamel.
• Roald: A toad who sees life in colour meets a paranoid fly who sees the world in the opposite way.
  Directed by Clara Bigache, Armand Gaucheron, Laurent Chavalle, Alexis Lheureux, Julie Chêne, Maxime Prone, Thibault Chopinet.
• Stranded: In Alaska at the end of the 19th century, a trapper encounters a supernatural moose that heralds the apocalypse.
  Directed by Alvin Arevalo-Zamora, Alwin Durez, Quentin Garaud, Maxime Salvatore, Florent Sanglard, Thomas Spony Ipiens, Alex Tregouet.
• Trajectoire: A character is fascinated by a world that makes him suffer and physically deforms him.
  Directed by Guillaume Béguin, Serena Longo-Brunet, Brice Esquer, Léon Rousseau, Nathalie Hurtak, Allan Savarit-Bodin, Noémie Layre, Clément Wallez.

A second screening, aimed at young audiences, will take place on the same day at 2.45pm, on the theme of ‘À ta place! ESMA students have produced a series of facetious short films in which characters search for their place in an environment that is often hostile or out of place.

You will discover :

• Coquille: Bernard, an egocentric little hermit crab, loses his shell and has to find another one while facing the dangers of the beach.
  Directed by Justine Aubert, Cassandra Bouton, Grégoire Callies, Maud Chesneau, Anna Danton, Loïc Girault, Gatien Peyrude, Justine Raux.
• Alternative Mesozoic: Humans and dinosaurs have coexisted throughout history, but the invasive attitude of humans annoys Rex, a peaceful dinosaur.
  Directed by Swann Boby, Lucie Laudrin, Marion Métivier, Léna Miguet, Sixtine Sanrame, Marie Schaeffer.
• Malacabra: What if a goat had caused the end of Mayan civilisation?
  Directed by Marylou Bort, Valentine Miniot, Mathilde Bourges, Vincent Noguès, Hugo Florin, Axel Prukop, Jérémy Guibert, Pierre Segonds.