North American Premiere
Lost in a sea of sex and drugs in 1970s New York, a musician falls from a 4th-floor window, breaking his spine. Inspired by the life and music of Robert Wyatt, and specifically the 1974 album of the same name that Wyatt recorded after his accident, this animated rock opera tells the fictionalized but parallel story of Bob and Alif, lovers caught up in a self-destructive cycle of addiction on a drug-fueled but musically creative vacation in Majorca. After his life-changing fall and rehab, Bob reinvents himself as a singer-songwriter (just as Wyatt did).
Spanish filmmaker Trénor’s painstakingly detailed rotoscope animation serves as a springboard into a trippy, kaleidoscopic freak-out that mirrors the undulating rhythm of Wyatt’s six-song cycle. The gloomy, ambient synth and Wyatt’s high-pitched, sorrowful voice highlight the minimalist, jazzy, prog-rock album, underscored by the visuals that morph and mutate alongside the music. Rock Bottom is a hypnotic, psychedelic musical odyssey about redemption through art and love which should also give a new lease of life to a lesser-known masterpiece.
Supported by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Fermí Herrero, Laura Casaña
Spain/Poland
2024
English
At VIFF Centre
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Alba Sotorra Clua, Miguel Molina, Robert Jaszczurowski, Aliaga Adán, Joaquín Ojeda de Haro, Dani Bagur
Screenwriter
María Trénor
ANIM
María Trénor, Marta Gil Soriano
Editor
Joaquín Ojeda de Haro
Original Music
Robert Wyatt Elidge
Art Director
María Trénor
María Trénor
With a degree in fine arts from the Faculty of Sant Carles of the UPV (Valencia), María Trenor has directed and produced several animated short films, including ¿Con qué la lavaré? (2003), which won the 1st Teddy Bear Award at Berlinale and the 1st Prize at ANIMADRID. Her 2009 short film Ex-Libris earned multiple awards and a Goya nomination. Her latest, ¿Dónde estabas tú? (2020), received the WIA Diversity Award. María teaches Audiovisual Media at the School of Art and Design of Valencia and has been involved in various conferences, publications, and animation festivals.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light
Drawing on her copious correspondence and the world's leading scholars, this is a definitive documentary on the life and work of "the mother of American Modernism."
Shall We Dance?
Masayuki Suô's delightful and charming 1996 film was a box office smash and won 14 Japanese Academy Awards including Best Film. It's the story of a married salaryman who falls in love with... dance.
Drop Dead City
New York, 1975. The city is minutes away from bankruptcy and President Gerald Ford wants no part of it. Sanitation workers are on strike and cops are telling tourists it's not safe to visit. The town is going up in flames and they can't pay the firemen.
Inedia
Liz Cairns makes a mesmerizing feature debut that sees a young woman suffering from mysterious food allergies join a remote island community practicing alternative healing methods. She soon realizes that not everything is as it seems.
The Fugitive Kind
Sidney Lumet's movie brings together two of the greatest actors of the period, Brando and Anna Magnani, reason enough to check out this underrated poetical drama about a handsome musician who washes up in a small southern town.
