After a strong festival run, the 2020 short Lachsmänner (Salmon Men) from Bern, Switzerland’s YK Animation has been posted online.
The film’s festival run included stops at Fantoche, Animateka, and Anima Brussels, among two dozen festivals. At the Locarno Film Festival, the film’s directing trio – Veronica L. Montaño, Manuela Leuenberger, Joel Hofmann – won the best Swiss Newcomer award for their sexed-up and anthropomorphized tale of salmon reproduction.
The film’s official synopsis reads, “The salmon want to reproduce. While the salmon men are swimming upstream in a testosterone-driven race, at the source the women indulge themselves in a fertility dance. But the roles aren’t set as clearly as the men expect.” But the description doesn’t quite do the film’s bulging visuals justice.