The Other Shape

The Other Shape (Spanish: La otra forma) is a 2022 Colombian-Brazilian adult animated science fiction film written and directed by Diego Felipe Guzmán in his directorial debut. It won the award for best animated feature film at the Sitges Film Festival in 2022, and the same year received a nomination for the Contrachamp award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the award for best feature film at the Chilemonos International Animation Festival. According to the newspaper El Colombiano, the film "used the frame-by-frame technique with more than 60,480 drawings or frames to achieve [its] story". It was commercially released on March 30, 2023 in Colombian theaters.

Overview
Humanity creates a square artificial paradise right on the surface of the Moon in the near future. The only way to enter this strange paradise is to demonstrate that one has the mindset of a square, which implies that the inhabitants must close their minds to any kind of questioning. A man who is desperate to fit into this world must decide whether to become this geometric figure, or break the mold by following his own instincts.

Production and release
Around 2018, director Diego Felipe Guzmán began production of the film, which involved obtaining resources from state entities such as RTVC, Idartes and Proimágenes, from international production agreements, and from self-financing and micro-patronage platforms. According to the newspaper El Tiempo, this silent film had a budget of more than half a million dollars and a team of more than one hundred people, who were in charge of producing more than 60,000 frames and 150 animated characters.

The film began its tour of film festivals in 2022, participating in international events like the Sitges Film Festival, the Havana Film Festival, the Electricdreams International Film Festival and the TOHorror Fantastic Film Fest in Italy, the Animac Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam, as well as participating in the opening of the Festival de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales Miradas in the city of Medellín. The Other Shape was released in Colombian movie theaters on March 30, 2023.

Critical reception
On the Animation for Adults website, the film received a score of nine out of ten points. The site's review states: "The aesthetic display to show us that society is fascinating [...] Just for the visual proposal, which amazes from beginning to end, it deserves to be watched again and again. Fortunately, the aesthetics are accompanied by excellent animation, so it should be remembered as one of the milestones of the Latin American animated scene". Vicky Carras of the Movimentarios website defined it as "a rather curious film, for its original idea and also for managing to entertain without a single word".