An incongruous universe, absurdly inverted, a parallel world with its own dimensions of space and time, two bizarre characters, a cartoon that will make children laugh a lot.
The short film “Antipoden” was selected at the Takorama 2020 festival organized by the Films pour enfants association.
Understand the story, the theme, express your sensitivity and exercise your critical thinking.
1-Describe the location of the film.
It is an imaginary place separated in two by a horizontal line. Up by day and down by night; but the line turns regularly and the two spaces interchange: the house in the day becomes the house in the night and vice versa.
2-What does the first character do at the beginning of the film?
He is preparing for change. The line will turn and his house will end up in the night. He prepares his bed to sleep.
He looks at his watch; we can therefore think that it is a usual phenomenon which always happens at the same time: The bird sings and the space is transformed.
3-From the third minute onwards, what happens when the second character raises his flag?
This has the effect of pulling the sleeping character's hammock.
The two places are connected. Changes to the space above influence the space below.
This is why the first character is angry. It's a bit like a neighborhood war.
4-List the different interactions between the two spaces.
Open response.
5-At the end of the film, what does the first character decide to do?
He decides to detach the lower house.
6-And what is happening?
The bottom house falls but, since it is an imaginary space, it continues to fall from top to bottom and lands in the top space.
The two protagonists are forced to live on the same side but the bird loses its head, sings more and more often and the space becomes perpetually changing.
7-The title of the film is “Antipoden”. What is an antipode?
It is a place on Earth diametrically opposed to another place.
From the Latin antipodus (“whose feet are located opposite”)
8-Do you know the expression “Being the polar opposite of…”?
This means: being the opposite of what is expected.
Extensions
- A
interactive map, based on *Google maps*, allowing you to enter a location and obtain the antipode.
- In geography, did you know that there is an archipelago whose name is “Antipodes Islands”?
And that the “Antipodes Islands” in New Zealand are the opposite of “Gatteville-le-phare” in Brittany. A distance of approximately 20,000 km separates them.
- This antipodean research could lead to other discussions on terrestrial geography and climates. We will thus be able to see that a very large part of the countries have their antipode in the ocean (because of the proportion of oceans in relation to the land surface), that antipode does not necessarily mean opposite climate (see the distribution of climates in relation to latitude), etc.
- In literature, *Albert of the Antipodes*, text by Henri Delpeux, illustration by Annick Desmier (1975).
Created with the support of the French Ministry of Education and the French National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC).
Watching the film with the family, educational activities with parents at home and with teachers in class.
