Mao Zedong, Socrates, Mickey Mouse, Ayn Rand, elephants, and echoes of Monty Python in a Dadaist animation film – that is one way to describe Mexican filmmaker Aria Covamonas’ first feature, The Great History of Western Philosophy (La gran historia de la filosofía occidental). But most descriptions won’t even come close to properly capturing this rollercoaster ride of public domain creativity, getting its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR) on Wednesday.
“A cosmic animator incurs the wrath of the Central Committee and is sentenced to create a philosophical film under the unyielding gaze of Chairman Mao – who swiftly condemns them to death,” explains a synopsis on the IFFR website about the Tiger Competition entry. “Chaos ensues, resulting in a wildly imaginative animated feature that collides popular and high culture, brimming with absurd mischief and references spanning from classical Greek thought to Mickey Mouse and Disney.”
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