Carlotta's Face
This short film by brain scientist Valentin Riedl and animation artist Frédéric Schuld illustrates the world of Carlotta where faces do not exist.
"haunting Carlotta's Face, neither manipulative nor expected"
The Hollywood Reporter
"the fascinating German short Carlotta’s Face”
The New York Times
Carlotta’s Face (multi language subtitles)
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Story
We all share the same kind of brain yet everybody has a different view of the world around us. As a very intriguing example, Carlotta vividly explains how a world without faces does look like. She suffers from the miswiring of a tiny brain region that makes it impossible for her to see and remember faces as a complete construct, called prosopagnosia or face blindness.
In an interdisciplinary attempt between a scientist and an artist, we tried to convey the social pressure that Carlotta has felt her whole life. Still, she developed a novel and beautiful way of artistic expression that allows her to see herself in haptic selfportraits which would not be possible for her when looking into the mirror.
Film festivals
In Germany, CARLOTTA'S FACE was awarded with the "Short Tiger Award 2018" of the German Federal Film Board (FFA), received the "Prädikat besonders wertvoll" from the Deutsche Film- und Medienbewertung (FBW), and was listed among the FFA's TOP10 successful German short films in 2018.
Our film was invited to over 200 national and international film festivals and won 32 awards, among them at Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, DOK Leipzig, Int. Kurzfilmfestival Hamburg, Edmonton Int. Film Festival, SPARK Animation, Anibar Animation Festival.
Science communication
Our interdisciplinary approach helped spark conversation about an unknown brain deficit. The film sensitizes for how mutual openness and social inclusion can increase sympathy for different views of the world.
CARLOTTA'S FACE won awards for social inclusion (KLAPPE AUF! Kurzfilmfestival) and science-related art (Brain Film Fest, Imagine Science Festival) and has been presented at the Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation for science communication. We prepared material about the scientific, medical, and film-making background of our film that is available as educational material to German schools and universities via Matthias Film.
Team
Production: Fabian&Fred
Sound: Simon Bastian
CARLOTTA'S FACE received generous support from the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (BKM).
Distribution
CARLOTTA'S FACE is part of several short film compilations, among them the 2018 Animation Show of Shows touring US cinemas, "Short Export 2019" to be screened at Goethe Institutes around the world, and "German Short Films 2019" presented by AG Kurzfilm. The film is distributed by the KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg.