Janneke Küpfer

02:30, Color, Stereo
The animation/collage film A Useful Day is a short film that is reminiscent of a music video. It begins with a long string of Japanese girls crossing the street in their school uniforms. The camera in fact suggests their movement by gliding from left to right along what is actually a panorama photo. Meanwhile, a woman tells us, in Japanese, why some pupils are absent today. They have all come up with reasons why they could not come to school: one has red pimples, another is covered in cat pee, two more are apparently snowed in. Their excuses are funny, but at the same time essential for a day’s escape from the rigid school system. In the next scene, the absentees, cut loose from their static position on the photo, have organized a dancing party, and are jumping about to their fling, having been able to do their own thing all day, the girls will find it easier to go back to school next day.