Written by Dan Barriga. Photo by Dan Barriga.
On Monday afternoon at the SCAD Museum of Art, “The Old Young Crow” and “Nathan-sim” were shown and both directors, Elan Golod (Nathan-ism) and Liam LoPinto (The Old Young Crow) were present during the screening and spoke during a quick Q&A at the film’s end.
“The Old Young Crow” is an animated short that takes place in Tokyo, Japan, following an old man, Mehrdad, who reflects on his past when his family moved from Iran to Japan at a young age. He spent most of his time drawing into his sketchbook at a nearby graveyard alone. One day, an older woman visited him at the graveyard name Chiyo. After spending the day connecting with this woman, she suddenly disappears without a trace. The short film is charming, with excellent animated illustrations and portrays themes such as loss and grief.
“Nathan-ism” is an 80-minute documentary about remembering history, how it happened and what it means to play a part in history. Nathan Hilu, a 90-year-old veteran of World War II, draws pictures of events that took place during his time as a guard during the Nuremberg Trials. His role was to be on suicide watch over Nazi war criminals before the judges decided the verdict. Much of what Nathan said is true to what happened, but is it all accurate to his account? Could his memories be playing tricks on him due to his old age? Watching this film is an incredible experience. The visuals of Nathan’s work coming to life in animation is a unique decision that I personally enjoyed. As a history nerd, watching this film made me think about how the Nuremberg Trials impacted the world and how we need to learn from it.
