Watch: Awesomely Dark Animated Short ‘Mr. Pete & the Iron Horse’
by Alex Billington
May 29, 2023
Source: Vimeo
This is awesome!! Another excellent creation from the ingenious minds at the Swiss animation studio known as YK Animation, based in Bern. Mr. Pete & the Iron Horse is one of their latest short films – created and directed by Swiss animation filmmaker Kilian Vilim. This originally premiered in 2021 and played at many film festivals over the last two years – finally available online to watch. Stop what you’re doing and click play below! The diligent soldier Mr. Pete does everything to meet the high standards of his baroness. To satisfy her insatiable lust for speed he shovels madly on her new iron horse. It’s a parable about authoritarianism, mainly about soldiers and workers who fall in line and mindlessly work for their master. It’s a nod to Nazis, but also about many things happening now around the world. The ending is just right. A must watch short.
Thanks to Vimeo Staff Picks for the tip on this being available online. Brief intro from Vimeo: “The diligent soldier Mr. Pete does everything to meet the high standards of his baroness. To satisfy her insatiable lust for speed, he shovels madly on her new iron horse’s voyage.” Mr. Pete and the Iron Horse is directed by Swiss animation filmmaker Kilian Vilim – you can see more of his work on his official site or his Vimeo or follow him on IG @kilianvilim. Produced by Fela Bellotto, co-produced by Gabriela Bloch Steinmann. Developed at YK Animation Studio – a small animation studio based in Bern, Switzerland (they also made Extremely Obscure Discovery and Coyote). Follow them @YKAnimation. With music by Raffael Pochanke. This first premiered in 2021 and won a Fantastic Swiss prize at Fantoche. To watch more shorts, click here. Thoughts?