Schirkoa

I liked this film too! Drawings, animation, music are all exceptional. I did not really understand what is the "strong social message" that all the others are writing about, maybe somebody can tell me. Is it a metaphor for today's society in the United Kingdom? Smell of Brexit? Immigrants and everyone with bags on their head? It made me think about the political films of Costa-Gavras, "Z" (1969) and "State of Siege" (1972) and a film with Antonio Banderas, "Imagining Argentina" (2003).

• The animation work here is fantastic, the character design and backgrounds pop-up and have a lived-in quality to them, there's a sense of history to this place that we can't shake. Every corner of the frame is packed with detail. The soundtrack fits the dystopian themes, and it makes us watch again, trying to decipher its many mysteries within.

• The world building is phenomenal, it has some striking and unforgettable visuals. Crowds of people wearing bags over their heads, vehicles and metro-stations that resemble our world and yet belong to a parallel dimension altogether.

• The narration tells a simple story of a rising politician having an affair with an illegal immigrant, but the images speak of so much more. Every frame is packed with semiotics, not quite hidden but just there for us to take in. Fascism, Immigration, politics and more come packed in this imaginative dystopia. It feels a bit like Brazil with its images of urban decay and bureaucratic dwellers.

Winner at the Oaxaca Film Fest 2016, SCHIRKOA contains lush animation, excellent character design and social commentary packed within every inch of its frame.

Enrrico Wood, Oaxaca FilmFest

A perfect city, a forbidden love affaire, a not usual couple. And the truth , changing everything. A dystopian portrait of correctness and interdiction against immigrants as a parable. Headbags as only reasonable manner to hidden the reality. And few splendid scenes about freedom, love and sacrifice.

Welcome to Schirkoa. Imagine a place where immigration was considered a plague. Where no identity was preferable to any identity. A society of faces made bland and generic by decree. The Bag Act was the new law of the land, enforced by the intellectuals of a dystopian society. That's the story behind 'Schirkoa', the short film written and directed by animator Ishan Shukla. This beautifully animated short tells the story of a dismal metropolis where everyone hides their identities for fear of persecution.

This is a place where a good alias is everything. The main character identifying herself only as 'Little Whore', narrates the tail as she describes her first meeting and the relationship she has with a mysterious bureaucrat known only as '197 A'. One day the bureaucrat decides to end it all by jumping off a building. Before he leaps, he meets the gaze of a woman from another rooftop, preparing to do the same. Our storyteller never sees her mysterious bureaucrat again, but lives on to witness and describe the events that follow. A relationship between the 'White Witch' and 197 A ensues, leading to a twisted plot laced with love, betrayal and chaos.

Most certainly a 'cartoon' for adults, 'Schirkoa' is an intelligent piece of visual art with a strong social message, as well as being completely entertaining. I could see this short film being the prototype for a much longer feature or a series. The film created a frighteningly curious world with a rich storyline and compelling visual effects. It engages and gives cause for reflection on the most frightening aspects of a postmodern society revisited by coercive 'nationalism'.

For a thirteen minute film, the invested craftsmanship in the soundtrack and animation was well worth it and due credit should go to the other animators as well; Yiming Lim, Nico Agatha Wibowo and Milan Padhiyar. The music and sound design were exquisitely composed and scored by Nicolas Titeux and I look forward to seeing more work from Indian filmmaker Ishan Shukla and his fellow animators.

EJ Wickes/Cult Critic/CICFF