Kate Bush’s animated film ‘Little Shrew’ set for cinematic release
Little Shrew, a short animated film written and directed by Kate Bush will play exclusively in cinemas before the acclaimed World War II resistance film, From Hilde, With Love.
The movie won ‘Best Animation‘ at the New York Short Animation Festival. It centres on a shrew who searches for hope, journeying across a bombed-out city in the wake of war. It is rendered beautifully with atmospheric animation in a monochrome, darkened landscape.
The shrew is blissfully unaware of how all the death and destruction across the landscape came about. She adventures across the Land of the Giants, and is intermittently caught up in explosions as a drone attack newly bombs the city. The animal manages to recover and continues her quest for hope, though more disheartened than before. It is only four minutes long.
As a metaphor for the tragedy of war on a child’s life, it makes a pertinent companion to the accompanying film, From Hilde, With Love. The film follows the true story of Hifle in Berlin in 1942. She falls in love with Hans and gradually finds her place in the resistance group that would come to be known as the “Red Orchestra”.
Bush has previously selected her list of favourite films, which gives some insight into her directorial headspace. Her list includes classics such as Werner Herzog’s 1979 Nosferatu the Vampyre, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 The Godfather and Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror offering The Shining.
The ‘Hounds of Love’ singer has also sat in the director’s seat before. The Line, the Cross and the Curve is a 1993 British musical short film directed by and starring the singer. It co-stars Miranda Richardson. It acts as an extended music video, featuring tunes from her 1993 album The Red Shoes.
Little Shrew will play before From Hilde, With Love in all Picturehouse and other select cinemas from June 27th.
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