The Indie animation company e.d. recently released a haunting teaser trailer for their upcoming short, Giant Bear at the Annecy international film festival. In the short film, not only does an Inuit hunter fight to survive against the cold of the North, but he comes face to face with the last remaining giant bear from Inuit folklore.
In the teaser trailer, the Inuit hunter is already facing some unfortunate odds as he battles against nature, the heavy snow, and starvation. In the search for food, the hunter instead finds the nanurluk, a large bear that is the size of an iceberg. Relying on his skill and agility, the hunter will have to fight for his life against the legendary bear.
As with any film depicting an indigenous nation's mythology, there is always the worry of cultural appropriation. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case with Giant Bear, since the short film underwent many intense reviews with Inuit protectors and historians in order to portray the Inuit legend in an accurate and respectful way.
As is seen in the trailer, Giant Bear has a unique mixed-animation style that suits the tone of the story perfectly, conveying both the supernatural and realistic dangers of the North. Giant Bear used 2D/3D tools along with game engines to create the final dreamy product. It also has a hand-drawn look because the artists illustrated right onto the 2D backgrounds and 3D models.
Daniel Gies, the co-director for the short film, went into detail about the mixed-animation found in Giant Bear that gives the film its mystical quality.
“We wanted the film to feel alive and moving, like a painting come to life. By prototyping our scenes in Unity, we were able to see how different choices would change the story before we started applying our effects. On paper, a mish-mash of animation styles shouldn’t have worked, but thanks to modern tools, small teams like ours are finding new outlets for our ideas.”
Giant Bear is currently looking for distribution and will have an estimated completion date of August 2018. The short was co-produced by Taqqut Productions and funded by Nunavut Film Development Corporation and The National Film Board of Canada. The teaser trailer for Giant Bear can be seen here.