Cinema
Harpya
Raoul Servais · 1979
Synopsis
A man with a moustache comes to the aid of a woman being attacked in the street. He discovers that she is a harpy, a creature of legend, half woman and half bird of prey, and takes her in. She proves to have an insatiable appetite and devours everything in the house, while her host, at first obliging, gradually gauges the threat he has let into his home.
Context
The film runs nine minutes. Its author used for the first time a process of his own invention: actors filmed against black velvet, with reflective silhouettes, a multi-plane camera and front projection, are integrated into animated sets. Will Spoor plays the man and Fran Waller Zeper the harpy. The Royal Belgian Film Archive restored the negative, and the film remains its author's best known outside his country.
Who it is for
A nine-minute short film mixing animation and live action, with a dark and unsettling humour.
Prizes and reception
Palme d'Or for short film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979; it is this film that brought its author international renown.
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