A crazy chase that will make you laugh a lot but also think about our relationship with animals.
Film selected at the Annecy international animated film festival. Canal+ Prize 2008.
The short film “Oktapodi” was selected at the Takorama 2021 festival organized by the Films pour enfants association.
1-What is the first scene in the film?
Two octopuses hug each other tenderly in an aquarium. We understand that they love each other. Music with the violin reinforces this feeling.
This music recalls the famous spaghetti and kiss scene in the film *Lady and the Tramp*, Walt Disney Productions, 1955.
2-What happens at 2 p.m.?
A human hand grabs one of the two octopuses. We understand that the octopuses are in a fish store.
3-What does the scene between 26 s and 30 s represent?
This scene represents what the orange octopus imagines: his love is going to be cut up.
The film uses the technique of 3D animation but the directors of the film chose to represent the imagination of the octopus in 2D animation.
4-What does the orange octopus decide to do?
He decides to run away to save his love.
5-What is the first scene that makes it clear that the octopus has run away?
We discover at 31 seconds of the film the empty aquarium then traces of water on the ground.
6-Is the ending of the film optimistic or pessimistic?
Open response/debate.
The viewer is free to decide the outcome of the film because we do not know if the octopus succeeds in saving his love. We can recall the definitions of optimism and pessimism.
Optimism: state of mind which inclines to take things on the positive side and to imagine the favorable outcome of a situation.
Pessimism: a state of mind that inclines to take things the wrong way and imagine the unfavorable outcome of a situation.
7-According to the film credits, who directed this film and in what context?
The beginning of the film credits states: a film directed by Julien Bocbee, François-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier, Emud Mokhberi. Six people therefore participated in the production, which is very rare because a film is generally made by one or two people.
The end of the film credits states: Gobelins, the school of images. This film was therefore made in an animation school by six students.
Extensions and references
Animation schools which train directors, animators or even producers often operate on the same principle: students, after several years of study, must produce a film for one year to obtain their final diploma. Many short films created in animation schools are very good short films. “Oktapodi” was nominated to compete in the Best Animated Short Film category at the 2009 Academy Awards.
1- Villages in Greece
1-Why are Greek houses often white and blue?
Greece is a hot country and the white color helps reflect the sun's rays and reduce the temperature inside homes. Black, on the contrary, would have the effect of absorbing heat. The color blue is known to repel mosquitoes but it is also a cold color, unlike the color orange.
Blue and white are also the colors of the flag of Greece.
2- Octopuses
1-What are the octopuses doing at 1:48 of the film and why?
Octopuses spray ink to defend themselves.
Inkjet is a technique common to octopuses (octopuses), squid and cuttlefish to disturb the water, defend themselves or escape.
3- Couple life among animals
1-Do animals live in pairs?
Some swans, storks, albatrosses and penguins are monogamous and stay together for life. This is also the case in certain foxes or wolves: if the female dies, the male will not choose any other female to mate with.
Certain species of seahorses such as *Hippocampus whitei* also stay in a relationship for a very long time.
This comes from another particularity: it is the male who gestates the eggs laid in his ventral pouch by the female.
