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Growing up is never easy, especially when you’re deemed an outcast. In competition at Tribeca this year was CORVINE, an animated short from first-time writer-director Sean McCarron about finding your wings in a world that tears you down.
Within its brisk ten-minute runtime, McCarron is able to translate the pain of growing up as a deviant; one not fully welcome within the will of society.
While there’s no dialogue (the film is free of any at all) to confirm it, the little boy at the heart of this story comes across as neurodivergent. The unnamed boy – of roughly 5-6 years of age – is obsessed with crows (‘corvine’ pertaining to the characteristics of the crow, raven and jay family). The obsession doesn’t stop at merely admiring them, and extends to the boy’s actions. The boy mimics the birds, copying their every mannerism, from squawking like them to sharing his food. This is all shown in exciting and imaginative sequences evoking the wild and free imagination that children have. Infatuation is a common trait across different aspects of neurodivergence, where a single enjoyment can snowball into obsessive fixation. The boy’s inability to read social cues, as he begins squawking incessantly in a classroom setting, deepens this story, especially when the non-verbal boy is bullied for his awkward unfamiliarity with socialising outside of his corvine brethren.
This interview was posted on August 22nd 2023. Full interview linked below.
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