Les extraordinaires mésaventures de la jeune fille de pierre

A fanciful fairytale set in the Louvre: Energized with sly commentary, this short observes the awakening of the sculpture of a woman in peasant dress. After getting over the shock of being animated into motion, the sculpture soon finds that hiding out in the museum does not satisfy her curiosity. She runs out straight into a street protest against inequality, which is in turn approached by riot police. Abrantes pokes fun at sacred cows in art and politics, as he efortlessly underlines the instabilities in our thoughts and feelings about both. With its seamless and snappy use of CGI, the figure becomes a remarkably sympathetic vessel while retaining an essential blankness. (Nicolas Rapold)