Though the short films never draw as much attention as the features at a major festival, David and Laurent Nicolas' Black Holes stands as one of my favoritate discoveries of Sundance 2017 despite its brief run time. An animated short film produced as a proof of concept for a proposed series it's a fantastically odd little scifi comedy just packed to the gills with fantastic visuals and sly humor.
Dave Nicholson is a distinguished astronaut entrusted with humanity’s most important leap into the future—the conquest of Mars and outer space.
On the eve of Mission Mars Premium, Dave discovers he’s being teamed up with a sentient melon who outshines him in intelligence and charm. Not only a brilliant strategist but also the reincarnation of a fashion designer, the melon encroaches more and more on Dave’s jurisdiction, driving him to the brink of paranoia and insanity.
William Fichtner and Steve Little lead the voice cast and while the festival may be wrapped up the producers are still teasing out additional material from the short with a new clip appearing over the weekend. Witness the rise of the melon below!