‘Cryptozoo’, by Dash Shaw
Within the programming of
The Magnetic Terrace 2022. Vulnerable Critters| Duration: | 1 hour 45 minutes |
Awarded at Sundance, the Berlinale and the Sitges festival, Cryptozoo is a psychedelic animated adventure set in the 1960s, when extinct or mythological animals known as cryptids live under the threat of human activity. An elderly woman creates a sanctuary to protect them, but should these mythical creatures really be exhibited in a zoo?
Cryptozoo, directed by Dash Shaw. USA, 2021. 95’
Lauren is a young woman who was plagued by terrible nightmares as a child until a baku—a small elephant-like creature from Japanese mythology—came to her rescue and devoured her bad dreams. As a result, she decided to become a cryptozoologist and dedicate her life to rescuing these rare animals from people who capture, exploit and sell them on the black market. Meanwhile the US Army wants to get its hands on the baku to erase the dreams of young idealists and revolutionaries. When the baku escapes from the Cryptozoo where it lives with the other cryptids, Lauren sets out to find it before the military does.
Dash Shaw (Hollywood, 1983) is one of the most interesting American indie animators working today. A renowned comic book artist, he self-published his first works before graduating from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. His graphic novels The Mother’s Mouth, Bottomless Belly Button and BodyWorld have been translated and published in Spain. In 2017 he created his first animated feature using a combination of hand drawing and Photoshop, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea, where the lead characters were voiced by Jason Schwartzman and Lena Dunham.
