Where to start: Black Tape (2014) stands out for its clever and seductive use of tango to play off that old line, “It takes two to tango”. It also takes two to occupy: the occupier and the occupied; the victim and victimizer; the armed and the unarmed.
What to watch next: The Heart of Amos Klein (2008) uses the life of a one-armed man straddling life and death to examine the violence, corruption, and turmoil in recent Israeli history. Told using a mix of paint, drawings, and live action, the Kranots have created not so much a film of forgiving, but one that attempts to understand what makes people who they are and what they do.
Other key works: Nothing Happens (2016), Hollow Land (2013), The Hangman at Home (2021)
Influences: William Kentridge, Laurie Andersen, Ursula K. LeGuin, Robert Wyatt
Says: “Most of the films we work completely together, as with Hollow Land – we wrote the script together, we directed the film together, we did the storyboard together. But when we finished the storyboard Uri did the actual layouts; we designed the characters together but I painted them – we really shared the work between us, and we also share our lives. I think today we don’t know who animated what, which is true about our previous films as well. We did it all together; it’s very symbiotic.”
Currently working on: “We are currently working on an experimental xr multi-user installation and writing a script for an animated feature film. Uri is recording an album. I’m doing visuals for electro-acoustic music. Next year will be our 10th year of running ANIDOX:LAB at The Animation Workshop – this year’s call will focus on climate action and emerging media.”
