The Sunset Special
is an audiovisual, interdisciplinary, multimedia project by Nicolas Gebbe centered around an animated short film series. The project deals with the effects of reality distorting imagery and narrative spread by social media and advertisement through new technologies. It examines their connection to nostalgia, desires, wanderlust and deconstructs the perfectly customized, digital products: The idea of the unique trip, the perfect partner, the ideal life... Set in a world of luxury, travel and abundance The Sunset Special plays a game with the superficiality these products and worlds incorporate.
The Sunset Special examines the role of the individual in the digital world as a consumer and the relation to real world experiences and desires. How much attention do the virtual worlds require? What is their influence on the individuals desires? How much is its moral compass guided by a digital narrative? In an attempt to investigate the effects on social interaction and contentment, the perfect facades of these virtual worlds are used and broken open as their character is analysed. Looking for connections between the digital and analog worlds, The Sunset Special questions the nature of the realities presented to the individual.
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Awards and exhibition
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The Sunset Special 2:
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World premiere: Curtas Vila do Conde
North American premiere: TIFF
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Ann Arbor Film Festival - Competition - Wins Award: "The Terri Schwartz Film Award for Parody and Satire"
AG Kurzfilm Katalog 2024 feature
Festival du nouveau cinéma​ - Les nouveaux alchimistes
Kurzfilmtage Winterthur - International Competition
Glasgow Short Film Festival - International Competition
Filmfest Dresden - National Competition
London Short Film Festival - WTF!
Curtocircuito - Cosmos
Fantoche - International Competition
​London International Animation Festival - Official Competition
Kurzfilmwoche Regensburg - National Competition
Primanima World Festival of First Animations
BIEFF
Festifreak
Kyiv International Short Film Festival
Gegenkino
Jóvenes Realizadores - Granada Film Fest
Linoleum
Blicke Filmfestival des Ruhrgebiets
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The Sunset Special:
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Premiere: Locarno Film Festival 2021
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FBW - Prädikat Besonders Wertvoll
Rated especially valuable by german film agency
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Hessian Film Award 2022 (Best Short)
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AG Kurzfilm - Emerging Artists Vol. 6
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2023
Aesthetica Short Film Festival - Official Selection
Minikino Film Week
Primanima World Festival
Milan Machinima Festival
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2022
Annecy International Animation Film Festival: WTF screening
Athens International Film + Video Festival Ohio
Motovun Film Festival - Official Competition
Lago Filmfest - Official Selection
Vilnius Film Festival (out of competition)
Filmfest Dresden: Open Air Screening
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2021
Locarno Film Festival
Festival du nouveau cinéma Montreal
KFFK - Short film festival Cologne
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