Lebanese filmmaker and recent Gobelins graduate Mohammad Houhou just sent us his extraordinary short film “Ostrich Politic,” a thoughtful and beautifully crafted look at social norms and instinctive behavior.

Mohamad HouHou: “The film tells the story of a poetic ostrich dealing with behavioral misconceptions that lead to further issues in its society.

“On the creative end, writing the script/poem was very challenging. I worked on finding a balance between the narration and the visuals, to help them assist each other.

“I had to be very careful and make sure the audience is able to engage with the film without getting confused. Any additional words on certain lines might have delayed the audience comprehension and distracted them from understanding the story.
 

 
“On a technical note, I wanted to push the visual towards a realistic style so that I enhanced the absurdity of having an Ostrich living in a Human environment. It was very challenging to find a way to do that without any additional plugins for Fur since I only had access to Maya’s Xgen.

“I came across countless bugs and tried several techniques to see what would be the most stable workflow. Luckily, with endless all-nighters, I was able to work around all the issues and deliver an Ostrich which could tell the story.”
 

School: Gobelins
Director: Mohammad Houhou
Production Team: Justin Jegat – Laodice Kolk
Additional Assistance: Pratik Purkayastha – Hachem Reslan – Callum Nolan – Laetitia Teodorescu – Léonard Hicks – Jad Abou Zeki – Romain Couderette – Andrei Sitari – Rayan Ghossein – Nicolas Donati – Paul Dannaud – Isle Zamarripa – Geoffroy Collin – Pauline Fynse – Elodie Laborde – Chloé Labat – Léa Zafrilla – Frédéric Mesnard – Tomoe Inoue – Stefan This – Melinda Kádár – Diego Porral – Karlo P. Ravlic – Daphné Delfosse – Mohammad Babakoohi – Aly Farroukh – Alaa Hamdar – Lydia Aoun – Samir Kazah

Narrators: Kester Lovelace – Fabrice Ziolkowski – Cliona Noonan – Yujia Wang – Sean Lewis – Fanny H. Sörebo – Valentine Zhang
Music: Amandine Robillard – Anna Cordonnier
Sound Design: Cedric Denooz
Folly Design: Christophe Burdet

Additional Workspace provided by: Cube Creative – The Council – Rubika
Mentors: Damien Ancinelle – Dominique Debar – Benjamin Marsaud – Samy Fecih – Daniel Callaby – Etienne Guignard – Daniel Cacouault – Aïda del solar – Emilie Mercier – Jean Charles Finck – Andrea Lucrece – Jean Michel Boesch – Lionel Richerand – Nicolas Galvani – Robert Benett – Viktoria Jardine – Nicolas Trotignon – Marine Lachenaud
Coordinator: Juliette Marchand
Head of Animation Department: Moira Marguin
Head of International Relations: Cécile Blondel