Watch: An Animated Existential Musical – ‘The Burden’ from Sweden

Watch: An Animated Existential Musical – ‘The Burden’ from Sweden

by Alex Billington
April 26, 2024
Source: Vimeo

“I don’t demand much, my life is drifting away…” If you’d like to prevent your life from drifting away, you need to stop and take 14 minutes to enjoy this. You won’t be the same after. The Burden is a Swedish stop-motion animated short film musical from filmmaker Niki Lindroth von Bahr. It originally premiered back in 2017 and played at almost every major festival – Cannes, TIFF, Sundance, Annecy, Fantastic Fest, and many others. If you haven’t seen it yet, well what are you waiting for? A dark musical enacted in a modern market place, situated next to a large freeway. The employees of the various commercial venues deal with boredom and existential anxiety by performing cheerful musical turns. The apocalypse is a tempting liberator. In this comically acerbic musical epic, the animal occupants of a generic shopping plaza next to a freeway sing out their existential angst — doomed by the apocalyptic banality of subsistence in the modern age. How magical. With the voices of Carl Englén, Olof Wretling, Sven Björklund, Mattias Fransson. Click play below.

Thanks to Vimeo Staff Picks for the tip on this. Brief intro to this short from Vimeo: “An animated musical with apocalyptic undertones. The story is divided into four episodes that take place in – a supermarket, a long-term hotel, a call center and a hamburger restaurant.” The Burden, originally known as Min börda in Swedish, is written & directed by Swedish artist / animator Niki Lindroth von Bahr based in Stockholm – you can see more of her work on her official website or follow her on IG @niki_lindroth_von_bahr. “She is also a costume designer and has [worked] for artists like Fever Ray and David Bowie.” Produced by Kalle Wettre. Featuring sound & score by Hans Appelqvist. With support from The Swedish Film Institute, Film i Väst, Filmbasen, Rooftop Films, and Film på Gotland. The short originally premiered in 2017 in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight sidebar, and it also played at Annecy, TIFF, and Fantastic Fest. It’s still being repped by New Europe Film Sales. For more info, visit Vimeo or stop by Niki’s site. To discover more shorts, click here.

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