The Bones: Ari Aster executive producing Chilean stop-motion short film

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The latest project from Hereditary (watch it HERE) and Midsommar (watch that one HERE) director Ari Aster is an unexpected one, as Variety has revealed that Aster is executive producing a stop-motion short film called The Bones, from Chilean filmmakers Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña. León and Cociña previously made the stop-motion feature The Wolf House, "a dystopian tale with haunting echoes of The Three Little Pigs and Red Riding Hood" that Variety described as a "shape-shifting, trippy nightmare". Judging by the first look images from The Bones, which can be seen below, this is going to be something of a trippy nightmare itself.

"A stop-motion piece for adult audiences with a bold auteur aim", The Bones seems to center on a young girl conducting some kind of supernatural ritual. It's said to be 

a dive into recent Chilean history just as the country is drafting a new constitution to replace the current document, which was passed during Augusto Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship. It will be the first time since 1833 that the Chilean constitution will be written by a citizen convention elected by popular vote. The new Constitution must be approved by a plebiscite in 2022.

“The Bones”’ premise is a callback to the world’s supposed first stop-motion animated film. Dated 1901 and excavated in Chile in 2021, the 16mm footage documents a ritual in which a young indigenous girl uses human bones to summon the spirits of the two best known ideologues of conservative Chilean values – founding father Diego Portales and close Pinochet collaborator Jaime Guzmán – to “unwrite” history.

Produced by Lucas Engel's Pista B and Diluvio, The Bones will premiere sometime in the second half of 2021. Adam Butterfield is an executive producer alongside Aster. 

Aster released the following statement: 

With ‘La Casa Lobo’ (‘The Wolf House’), Cociña and León struck me as the clear successors to Jan Svankmajer and the Quays. Here they seem to be channeling Ladislas Starevich and Joel-Peter Witkin, while sharpening their uncanny and unmistakable signature. ‘Los Huesos’ (‘The Bones’) is a brilliant film by two utterly singular filmmakers."

Tim Fain, who worked with Darren Aronofsky on the music for Black Swan, has composed the score for The Bones. According to Variety, The Bones was 

shot in black and white on celluloid film, or at least a convincing recreation. Fain’s score and sound design are clipped with a out-of-tune distortion that lends to the film’s antique authenticity, while also enhancing the supernatural feel of the girl’s incantations.