8 min, 2019
DCP-4K, 24 fps, dolby 5.1

Production format: RED video
Techniques used: single frame editing of image and sound
Screening format: DCP-4K

Concept, Direction, Animation, Music, Actor, Producer: Thomas Renoldner
Camera: Ludwig Löckinger
Sound recording: Adnan Popovic
Set assistent: Sophia Egger-Karlegger
Sound-design, color grading: Andi Haller

Financial support:
Bundeskanzleramt (Federal Chancellery of Austria,
Division for Arts and Culture)
State Government of Upper Austria - Cultural Dept.

Thanks to:
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Photo Laboratory - for the studio
Media Laboratory - for camera and light
Animation Laboratory - for editing equipment
...different versions for your choice...

a slapstick avantgarde film

...when art and entertainement clash...
DONT KNOW WHAT combines elements of mainstream cinema, like an entertaining dramaturgy or slapstick-like effects
with strategies of avant-garde cinema or video art, like formal and aesthetic reduction of the imagery, extrem short-cut technique and sound experiments.
The audience is then left to find their way between humor and seriousness in this strange "genre-hybrid".
The basic idea of DONT KNOW WHAT is to combine entertainement cinema and avantgarde film / video art. With the method of single frame editing, which primarily focused on the sound, the hyperrealistic film image gets transformed to fantastic, surreal, structural and even abstract film. It is also a musical composition, experimenting with the human voice and transforming language to sound and music. The work intends to play with and to expand the expectations of different audiences (and also theorists / curators), even if they DONT KNOW WHAT they are watching here in the first moment.
DONT KNOW WHAT shifts between categories:
Between life action and animation
Between realism and abstraction
Between serious film art and entertainement cinema
Between language and music (language is transformed into music)
Between conceptual planning and playful experimentation
Between intellect and emotion


DIAGONALE - Festival of Austrian Film - March 2019, Graz (A) - Competition: Innovative Cinema
GLAS - Int. Animation Festival - March 2019, Berkeley (USA) - International Competition
CROSSING EUROPE - Filmfestival - April 2019, Linz (A) - 'Local Artists' Competition
FLATPACK - Festival - April/May 2019, Birmingham (UK) - International Competition: (programme: Sound Bite)
ANIFILM - International Animation Film Festival - May 2019, Trebon (CZ) - International Competition: abstract and non-narrative animation
     SPECIAL JURY MENTION  (Jury: Annegret Richter, Max Hattler, Tomek Ducki)

ANIMAFEST - World Festival of Animated Film - June 2019, Zagreb (HR) - International Competition
ANNECY - International Animation Film Festival - June 2019, Annecy (F) - International Competition: Off Limits
     OFF LIMITS AWARD (Jury: Dean Deblois, Antonio Canobbio, Virginia Mori)
     "Best of Annecy 2019" - tour
FEST ANCA - Int. Animation Festival - June 2019, Zilina (SK) - International Competition
ANIMATOR - Int. Animation Festival - June 2019, Poznan (SK) - International Panorama
     Audience Choice - Programme 2
ANIMA MUNDI - Int. Animation Festival - July 2019, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo (BR) - International Competition
INSOMNIA - Int. Animation Festival - July 2019, Kaluga (RU) - International Competition
ANIMAFEST CYPRUS - Int. Animation Festival - July 2019, Salamiou, Platanistia (CYP) - International Competition
TAFF - Int. Animation Festival - August 2019, Turku (FIN) - International Competition
LINOLEUM - Festival of Contemporary Animation and Media Art - September 2019, Turku (UA) - Experimental Animation and Video Art Program
OIAF - Ottawa International Animation Festival Ottawa (CAN) - International Competition
ANIMATOU - International Animation Film Festival Geneva (CH) - International Competition - Best Experimental Short
ANIMA - Cordoba International Animation Festival Cordoba (AR) - International Competition