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Oscar nominee says a lot with its title alone

NEWYORK –

Long before Riz Ahmed surprisingly read its name on Oscar nomination morning, Pamela Ribon’s short film title tended to influence those who heard it. Like when Ribon came to pick up her festival certificate at SXSW in Austin, Texas, right before the premiere of her film there.

The guy at the desk: “What’s it called?”

Ribon: “My five dicks.”

The guy at the table, without missing a beat: “It’s also difficult.”

There’s certainly no Oscar nomination this year quite like “My Year of Dicks” — and not just because of a title that, as Ribon notes, “is very hard on spam filters.”

The film, written by Ribon and directed by Sara Gunnarsdottir, is one of the more hysterical, painful, and sweeter portraits of coming of age in all its awkwardness. It’s nominated for best animated short at the Oscars next month. Phil Lord (“Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse,” “The Lego Movie”) called the 26-minute film “one of the best movies of the year at any length.”

It’s based on Ribon’s 2014 memoir, “Notes for Boys (and Other Things I Shouldn’t Share in Public)” — specifically a chapter chronicling a girl’s decision to lose her virginity. 15 years old Ribon in 1991 while growing up in the suburbs. of Houston. Yet it continues with five suspenseful chapters about intimate encounters with guys who aren’t so great – as the title is damned – “My Year of Dicks” says little about judgment for romantic mates are far more from Ribon’s ideal than it is about recounting and illuminating the awkward first steps of sex.

“It’s cheeky but without malice,” Ribon said in a recent interview with Zoom from her home in Los Angeles. “It’s really an inclusive feeling: ‘We’ve all gotten through that somehow, haven’t we?’

As they started, Gunnarsdottir, an Icelandic animator who created the live animations of “Diary of a Teenage Girl,” wondered if “Notes to Boys” was what a better title, less trouble than nothing. But Ribon sensed something intimate — no, something universal — about “My Year of Dicks.”

“Not everyone sends a letter to a boy, but everyone has a rough year – academically, business or dating. It’s multi-layered,” says Ribon. “Unfortunately, it’s a way to attract people. Everyone likes ‘Equal difficulty.”‘

“My Year of Dicks,” streaming on Vimeo, has unexpectedly become one of the most talked about films at this year’s Oscars. Not only will much depend on whether Ribon and Gunnarsdottir can win on March 12, but perhaps even more eagerly awaited to see which presenter, at the solemn awards ceremony the best, can name the movie in front of millions of viewers, on March 12. live broadcast.

“Do you think they’ll bleep it?” Ribon wondered anxiously.

For 47-year-old Ribon, “My Year of Dicks” is a strangely fitting climax. Although her most famous credits as a screenwriter are for more kid-friendly animated films (“Moana”, “Ralph Breaks the Internet”), Ribon, with as an essayist, blogger and podcaster, has long been a rare open book. Her 2012 essay, “How Can I Just Be the Latest Urban Legend,” described a less-hygienic trip to a massage parlor when she was months pregnant.

“People say, ‘I would never have thought of sharing that story with everyone,'” Ribon said. “And I was like, ‘What are you going to do?’ They were like, ‘Never tell anyone for the rest of my life what just happened to me.’ I was like, ‘Oh!”‘

“Sometimes I feel like a walking cautionary tale,” says Ribon.

Even as a teenager, Ribon was acutely aware of the tragedy of his adolescence. She doesn’t keep a diary, but she does write in an extraordinary way, either by typewriter or by hand, about her life. Holding a thick green notebook, Ribon flipped through the short stories, notes for the boys and ticket stubs she had accumulated over the years.

“I like to have an audience in the first place when I’m processing my thoughts,” says Ribon. “I’m still the same. I’d rather write emails about my day than keep it to myself. It’s weird to talk to me.”

Ribon poured all of that material and more onto Gunnarsdottir, who, along with a small team of independent animators, created an enlarged version of a young Pam interspersed with old footage. hers from high school. Each of the five chapters has its own animation design to match, including part anime and part vampire story style. For Gunnarsdottir, the power of animation is to take something natural and add expressionism.

“So you have this background that feels very real but magic happens when you move away from it and become very abstract,” said Gunnarsdottir, speaking from France.

“That honesty, it comes from her,” Gunnarsdottir added. “I think she’s very brave.”

Ribon is less convincing.

“I don’t know if it’s brave or ridiculous,” she said with a laugh.

Among the film’s most thrilling moments is the frank talk of lewd sex from Ribon’s father. Ribon had to assure his mother that it was word for word (Ribon’s father had died many years ago). After initially defending her mother from the film, Ribon’s mother became an ardent supporter — even if she couldn’t get over reading “Notes to Boys” in public at first.

“My Year of Dicks” started as a TV project for FX Networks, but the filmmakers ultimately decided to try their luck in the festival round. Because Walt Disney Co. own FX, so ironically, My Year of Dicks is technically considered one of Disney’s Oscar nominations, alongside films like Avatar: The Way of Water and Turning Red.

As time went on, “My Year of Dicks” started to become different and more distant from Ribon. The case of Roe v. Wade being overturned makes such sexual exploration much more dangerous for young women. Texas law prohibits abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, and there are no exceptions for rape or incest. Ribon’s film is more and more like a time capsule of a bygone era.

“In Texas today, this is the most dangerous thing a girl can do with her future. These people shouldn’t be held accountable for lifelong decisions just because of one party,” Ribon said. “At least I feel free to find out. Now, I would be too scared to find out about myself. I’m grateful for the mistakes I could have made. I didn’t have sex. in any situation but it could have happened. And it could have happened if there was only one more cunning person here. It’s much scarier to think about.”

But Ribon believes that animation provides “a tool to talk to someone’s unfiltered heart” — that even in a very adult animated film, as she puts it, it is possible reconnect with “the part that we set out with the best of intentions for ourselves.”

“We went back to that cartoon feeling on Saturday morning,” she said.

So yes, “My Year of Dicks” might be this year’s most giggling Oscar nominations. But it can also be the most naked sincerity.

“Maybe it’s my job in life, helping people know that you’re not alone and that could be worse. There’s something so satisfying about knowing I’m officially having sex talk. worst of all time. It’s not just what I say,” Ribon said, pausing to smile. “The Academy has spoken.”



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