Loontown by Tidhar and Yaniv

Lavie Tidhar and Nir Yaniv have announced their new short animated film, Loontown, is now available to watch for free online.

Imagine The Wire crossed with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, add a healthy dose of classic film noir, and you’ll come close to this absurdist sci fi fable about lonely balloons with big dreams. Picture Humphrey Bogart reincarnated as a balloon detective hot on the case of a missing shipment of helium (“street name H”), and this might be the movie for you!

When Mordy “The Mouth” is gruesomely – and literally! – popped in an alleyway, it’s down to world-weary detective Muldoon to solve the case. His quest quickly takes him up against a mysterious gangster just out of prison (a “twelve stretch in Blimpsville”), a seductive femme fatale named Red (who he helplessly falls for), and an inevitable meeting with destiny.

Filmed in and around Los Angeles, in locations including the famous alleyway from They Live and Chinatown’s LA River, the film mixes live action backgrounds with animated characters.

With Loontown, the creative team of award-winning writer Lavie Tidhar (Central Station, Neom) and animator Nir Yaniv (LiftOff, The Voice Remains) have created a movie they describe, tongue firmly in cheek, as the “Citizen Kane of Balloon Noir movies”!

Main Page: https://www.positronish.com/loontown

Written by Lavie Tidhar. Directed by Nir Yaniv. Produced in the US, 2023. Language: English. Length: 17:55 min. Starring Digger Mesch, Anne Wittman, Kenneth Jay, Nathan Osgood, Al Lubel, Russell Wilcox and Katie Snyder. Type: animated, dystopian sci fi, film noir.

The team has been working on a series of hand-made animation projects, including the forthcoming web science fiction series Mars Machines starring Digger Mesch and Russell Wilcox, described as “an existential buddy comedy set in a kitchen on Mars”, and The Radio, a children’s animated short currently in production.

Loontown has just concluded a festival run, picking up several official selections and awards, and is now available to view free online.

For more information, visit https://www.positronish.com/loontown