trailer
SYNOPSIS
What is the opposite of a gun? A classroom erupts into a war of words as students grapple with this seemingly simple question in Lisa LaBracio and Anna Samo’s adaptation of Brendan Constantine's “The Opposites Game”. Entirely hand-crafted by the two directors, the animation is drawn in a stop-motion-animated book that builds page-by-page to the ground-shaking answer being both sought and avoided.
Inspired by events in poet Brendan Constantine’s own classroom, “The Opposites Game” was written as a tribute, not only to his passionate young students, but to his friend Patricia Maisch who helped disarm the shooter in the
infamous Tucson shooting of 2011. Constantine first shared this poem at a gun violence prevention event organized by Maisch, and since that day, quotes have been emblazoned on the protest signs of students around the country.
TED-Ed works with international animation filmmakers to produce mission-driven shorts that have garnered over two billion views since its founding in 2012. “The Opposites Game” is part of the series “There’s a Poem for That”, which aims to showcase living poets giving language to some of life’s most inexplicable moments.
“...[a] strong message and playful execution.”
—
Daniel Suljic
Director, AnimaFest Zagreb
“It is always a challenge to translate one masterpiece into another media. In “The Opposites Game”, the film, Anna Samo and Lisa LaBracio not only successfully turned Brendan Constantine’s poem into a beautiful animation but added new layers of understanding, strengthening a so needed message in these troubled times. The film had a great impact on the Anima Mundi 2019 audience and won a well-deserved prize.”
—
Cesar Coelho
Director, Anima Mundi
“A beautiful poem. Haven’t felt a story like that in quite some time.”
—
Rafael Casal
Writer (Blindspotting), Poet, Actor
STILLS
festivals & screenings
Animafest Zagreb World Festival of Animation Film
Grand Competition, Short Film
June 2019, Croatia
Palm Springs International Shortfest
Official Selection
June 2019, Palm Springs, USA
Anima Mundi
Gallery Film Competition
July 2019, Brazil
SUPERTOON International Animation Festival
International Competition
July 2019, Croatia
Salute Your Shorts Film Festival
Official Selection
August 2019, Los Angeles, USA
Flux Screening Series at the Hammer Museum
August 2019, Los Angeles, USA
Warsaw Animation Film Festival
Panorama
August/September 2019, Poland
Dumbo Film Festival
August 2019, New York, USA
Fantoche International Animation Festival
Panorama
September 2019, Switzerland
Animanima International Animation Festival
Internation Competition
September 2019, Serbia
Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival
September 2019, Martha's Vineyard, USA
VarnaFest World Animated Film Festival
Panorama
September 2019, Bulgaria
Raindance Film Festival
Official Selection
September 2019, London, UK
Festival Stop Motion Montreal
September 2019, Canada
Wuti Goes Idyllwild
September 2019, California, USA
Animation Block Party
September 2019, Brooklyn, USA
Encounters Film Festival
Official Selection
September 2019, Bristol, UK
Woodstock Film Festival
Official Selection
October 2019, Woodstock, USA
StopTrik International Film Festival
Official Selection
October 2019, Slovenia + Poland
Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Fest
Official Selection
October 2019, Baltimore, USA
ANIMAGE – International Animation Festival of Pernambuco
Official Selection
October 2019, Recife, Brazil
CALLICOON ARTWALK ANIMATION BLOCK
October 2019, New York, USA
Downtown LA Film Festival
Official Selection
October 2019, Los Angeles, USA
ReAnimania: International Animation Films and Comics Art Festival of Yerevan
Official Selection
October 2019, Armenia
Film Columbia Chatham
October 2019, New York, USA
Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival
Official Selection
November 2019, Pittsburgh, USA
Interfilm Berlin International Short Film Festival
Official Selection
November 2019, Germany
Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival
Official Selection
November 2019, Colorado Springs, USA
Flensburg Short Film Festival
November 2019, Germany + Denmark
London Animation Festival
Official Selection
November/December 2019, London, UK
Leuven Short Film Festival
Official Selection
November/December 2019, Belgium
AWARDS
Best in Show Award
50th ASIFA East Animation Film Festival, New York City
Best Gallery Film
Anima Mundi
Best Animated Short
Raindance Film Festival
Best Animated Short
Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival
Best Screenplay
Animage, International Animation Festival of Pernambuco
Honorable Mention
Woodstock Film Festival
Special Mention
StopTrik International Film Festival
TEAM
LISA LABRACIO
Director, Animator
In 1994, Lisa decided to become an animator. She was 10 years old. While studying traditional animation at the School of Visual Arts in 2003, she began her animation career working as a production artist at Bill Plympton's animation studio. Lisa began teaching animation workshops after graduating, and in 2011, she traveled to the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya as a visiting teaching artist on behalf of FilmAid International, where she conducted a six-week animation filmmaking workshop with the youth. Since then, she has taught over 100 stop-motion workshops in homeless shelters, halfway houses, community centers, as well as in traditional classroom settings.
Today, Lisa is an Animation Director at TED-Ed, the educational initiative of the renowned TED Conferences and TED Talks, whose mission is to capture and amplify the voices of great educators all over the world. As part of their small but wondrous team, Lisa directs, designs, and creates handmade animation to bring to life the invaluable lessons that these educators continue to share in order to serve our classrooms and our youth. Education remains the core focus of all of Lisa’s animation work, and she is secretly plotting to teach everyone on the planet to animate.
BRENDAN CONSTANTINE
Poet, Performer
Brendan Constantine is a nationally recognized poet based in Los Angeles. His work has appeared in many of the nation’s poetry standards, including Best American Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Tin House, Ploughshares, Virginia Quarterly, and Poem-a-Day. His first book, ‘Letters to Guns’ (2009 Red Hen Press) received wide acclaim and is now taught in schools across the country. His most recent collections are ‘Dementia, My Darling’ (2016) from Red Hen Press, and a chapbook ‘Bouncy Bounce’ (2018) from Blue Horse Press. Mr. Constantine has received support and commissions from the Getty Museum, James Irvine Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. A popular performer, Brendan has presented his work to audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe, also appearing on TED-Ed, NPR's All Things Considered, KPFK's Poet’s Café, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. He holds an MFA in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts and currently teaches at the Windward School. Since 2017 he has been working with speech pathologist Michael Biel to develop poetry workshops for people with Aphasia.
ANNA SAMO
Director, Animator
Anna Samo was born in 1980 in Moscow, Russia. She wanted to become a clown or a secret agent and ended up becoming an animation filmmaker.
On her first job in Moscow, she scanned and colored hand drawn animation for director Ivan Maximov. For the first time she witnessed how thousands of separated drawings put together suddenly turn into a living character. She experienced the tickling feeling of surprise and wonder. This feeling has not left her ever since.
Anna studied animation in Moscow and Berlin. She was a master student with Professor Gil Alkabetz who encouraged her to create very personal work and to strive for her own authentic voice. As an independent filmmaker she uses a variety of analog animation techniques to create her own films.
With her husband and two kids Anna relocated to the US in 2013. Anna’s films have been screened and won awards at highly acclaimed film festivals around the globe such as Berlin Film Festival - Berlinale, Annecy Film Festival, Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Films, Animafest Zagreb, Aspen Shortsfest, Sundance and Palm Springs, among others. Anna lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
GERTA XHELO
Producer
Gerta Xhelo has dedicated her 15+ year career to recruiting independent filmmakers and producing meaningful stories across platforms, styles, and genres, giving artists around the world opportunity, exposure, and creative freedom in service of a larger message.
Gerta is the current Director of Production at TED-Ed. Since joining in 2013, she has had the immense pleasure of co-curating and overseeing the visual and editorial production of 1000+ animated short films which have reached over 1.5 billion views worldwide and have been featured in dozens of animation festivals, including Annecy, Animafest Zagreb, Anima Mundi, ASIFA, etc. Prior to TED-Ed, she recruited and developed talent for The Mill, a global leader in visual effects. She is also a professor at The School of Visual Arts and Pratt University where she teaches young artists career strategies.
FILM
This animation is part of TED-Ed's series, "There's a Poem for That," which features animated interpretations of poems both old and new that give language to some of life's biggest feelings. Check out the full series here.
A TED-ED PRODUCTION
A film by Anna Samo & Lisa LaBracio A poem by Brendan Constantine Poem performed by Brendan Constantine Sound Design by Weston Fonger Animation & Design by Anna Samo & Lisa LaBracio Produced by Gerta Xhelo
Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal Executive Creative Director Logan Smalley Executive Producer Stephanie Lo Producer Sarah Kay Special Thanks to Jessica Ruby & Tom Bergmann
