''We Are the Strange'' is an independent animated film directed by M dot Strange. It uses

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

CG artwork Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great deal ...

, and

greenscreen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and displa ...

effects. The film premiered on January 19, 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival.

Plot

''We Are the Strange'' focuses on "two diametrically opposed outcasts" as they "fight for survival in a sinister fantasy world." These two outcasts are an abused woman named Blue who has a mysterious

degenerative disease Degenerative disease is the result of a continuous process based on degenerative cell changes, affecting tissues or organs, which will increasingly deteriorate over time. In neurodegenerative diseases, cells of the central nervous system stop wo ...

and a living doll named . The two meet in the Forest of Still Life, where Blue follows to Stopmo City on a search for his ideal

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

parlor. Upon arriving in Stopmo City, they are caught in the middle of a fierce battle between bizarre

monsters A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

, making their progress difficult. Thankfully, a hero named Rain appears and easily destroys every monster that faces him. Blue meets Rain before he partakes in an "impossible battle against the source of all that is evil in Stopmo City." During the battle, Rain, along with Ori are crushed by Him after Rain states he wants to avenge his son. When the outlook seems grim, a fist made of

aluminum foil Aluminium foil (or aluminum foil in North American English; often informally called tin foil) is aluminium prepared in thin metal leaves with a thickness less than ; thinner gauges down to are also commonly used. Standard household foil is typ ...

breaks through the ground and starts the final showdown between good and evil.

Cast

David Choe David Choe (born April 21, 1976) is an American artist, musician, and former journalist and podcast host from Los Angeles. Choe's work appears in a wide variety of urban culture and entertainment contexts. He has illustrated and written for mag ...

as Rain * Halleh Seddighzadeh as Blue / Prologue Narrator * M dot Strange as HIM * Stuart Mahoney as Ori / The Pasteur * Chaylon Blancett as The Wooo Monster * Benjamin Joel Caron as Member of the Cult of the Strange (uncredited) * John Doremus as Sinistar (archive sound) (uncredited) * Luis Mendoza as Red Arm (uncredited) * Lari Teräs as Member of the Cult of the Strange (uncredited)

Other cast

* Joe Morishige for sound effects editor / sound mixer / additional music / other * Noboru Morishige for original improvisational violin score * Chaylon Blancett as film editor * M dot Strange as film editor

Release

M dot Strange has stated that he wishes to release the film on the Internet rather than in theaters as he will be able to retain all rights to his work, and any profits made thereafter (DVD sales, merchandise, etc.). On July 16, 2006, in an interview, he said he was "trying to finish it in time to make the Sundance film festival". In an e-mail sent to subscribers on the film's mailing list October 26, 2006, he stated that "The film will be done in 2 months and will hopefully premiere at a fancy_pants festival in January...". According to M. dot Strange's blog he received a call from Sundance saying that ''We Are the Strange'' would premiere as part of the Midnight Movie Program at the

2007 Sundance Film Festival The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007, in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was '' Chic ...

. The film was released August 2007.

Soundtrack

Six alternate soundtracks and author's commentary, including soundtrack by Noise Inc. are available on the DVD. The music used in We Are the Strange Trailer has been made by chiptune artist Yerzmyey/AY-Riders (a cover of

t.A.T.u. t.A.T.u. (russian: Тату, ) were a Russian music duo that consisted of Lena Katina and Julia Volkova. The singers were part of children's music group Neposedy before being managed by producer and director Ivan Shapovalov and signing with ...

's "30 Minutes") using

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

computer.

References

External links

* *
''We Are the Strange''
at Sundance.org

Brows Held High episode about said 2007 animated film
{{DEFAULTSORT:We Are The Strange 2007 films American avant-garde and experimental films 2007 computer-animated films 2000s stop-motion animated films American independent films American monster movies 2000s monster movies 2000s avant-garde and experimental films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films