Dog’s days in his shabby 80’s New York apartment are stuck on repeat, filled with dull video gaming and microwaved dinners alone in front of an ever-blaring TV set. Until he catches a commercial for a do-it-yourself companion robot kit – half price! – and decides on a whim to get one. A couple of days later he receives the package through the mail, assembles it much the same way you’d put together an Ikea wardrobe and tada! An ever-smiling, wide-eyed robot is born! Dog and Robot hit it off immediately and spend their days hanging out in the park, eating hot-dogs and rollerblading to the beat of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September”. On the last day of summer, they head to the beach on Coney Island, but the endless sea bathing makes Robot’s joints rust. Dog is unable to carry his immobile friend home. He’s thereby condemned to freezing his robo-butt off all throughout winter while his canine master desperately tries to think of ways to get his bestie off shore. Even if it’s sealed and heavily guarded…
Pablo Berger and the BIFFF go way back. All the way to 1990 when we screened his first short, MAMA, as part of our European Short Competition, and he went on to win the White Raven with his second feature, BLANCANIEVES, at the BIFFF 2013. But old friends can still surprise! Berger’s fourth feature is, even for him, a radical left-turn. It’s his first outing in gorgeous, sharp-lined 2D animation and he’s like a fish – not a robot – in water! This melancholy tale of loneliness, friendship and loss won over hearts at Sitges, where it won the Audience Award, and of many other crowds all over the world, both young and old!