THE LAST CIGARETTE ON EARTH: A Steampunk Adventure
Short Film
An award winning one minute film or: one man’s two-year adventure to stop smoking. For more than half my life, I was a smoker - not just the occasional kind, but the real deal: a “more-than-a-pack-a-day” smoker; occasional chain smoker. One day, I had an idea: to start a project that would evolve alongside my determination to quit. A deal with myself was born.
THE DEAL: Make the film. Stop smoking.
THE IDEA: Create a parallel-future world where flying locomotives and mechanical heli-horses fill the skies, where skyscrapers pierce the clouds, and the moon is a massive garbage dump kept afloat by steam power. Somewhere in this sprawling steampunk universe, a small story unfolds: beginning and ending with the last cigarette on Earth. It’s a heist and chase adventure, starting small and building to something quite large. And you’re all invited.
THE PROBLEM: The fates of the film and my habit were too closely tied. Deep down, I wanted to take my time with the project - it gave me an excuse to keep smoking.
THE SOLUTION: Eventually, it took me so long that I...quit smoking first! I finished the project anyway - this time, as a non-smoker.
With high hopes that the story behind this film might inspire someone else to stop looking for excuses, I dedicate it to you, future non-smoker!
Making Of / Breakdown + Festival Appearances available below.
MY ROLE: Concept, Direction, Visual Development, Animation, Compositing
FULL SHORT :
A short film by Matic Grgic
Music & sound design by Echoic Audio
Color grade by Jure Teržan, Korektif
THANKS:
Loads of thanks to archive3d.net, turbosquid.com & tf3dm.com for their free 3d models.
RESULTS:
international film and animation festivals
where THE LAST CIGARETTE ON EARTH has been screened at:
AZYL Festival at ART FILM FEST KOSICE 2019 (Bratislava, Slovakia) - WINNER, Best 1 Minute Film, KingstOOn Animation Festival 2019 (Kingston, Jamaica) – FINALIST, Best Special Effects, CATHARSIS International Film and Video Festival 2019 (Moscow, Russia) - WINNER, Best Film Up To 120 Seconds, BERLIN Flash Film Festival 2019 (Berlin, Germany) – WINNER, Monthly Category, 1MinuteFilmFestival.com 2019 (Sofia, Bulgaria) – WINNER, Best Animation, CROMINUTE 2019 (Pozega, Croatia) – FINALIST, Top 10, ONE MINUTE Film Festival at GALWAY FILM FLEADH 2019 (Galway, Ireland) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, MARMARIS Short Film Fetival 2019 (Marmaris, Turkey) - OFFICIAL SELECTION, FIRM FILM FESTIVAL 2020 (Valladolid, Spain) - OFFICIAL SELECTION, SHORT FILM BREAKS 2020 (Bucharest, Romania) - OFFICIAL SELECTION, INTERNATIONAL IZMIR Short Film Festival 2019 (Izmir, Turkey) - OFFICIAL SELECTION, MOINHO CINE FEST 2020 (Matosinhos, Portugal) - OFFICIAL SELECTION, FilmONEFest 2019 (New Jersey, USA) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, VIDEO HACKERS Film Festival 2019 (Ovada, Italy) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, 60 SECONDS OR LESS Video Festival 2019 (Chestertown, USA) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, ONE MINUTE STORY Film Festival 2019 (Teaneck, New Jersey, USA) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, NANOMETRI Festival 2019 (Fano, Italy) - OFFICIAL SELECTION, BREAKING WAVES Film Festival 2019 (Long Island, Nova Scotia, Canada) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, THE 60 SECOND Film Festival 2019 (San Francisco, USA) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, ANILOGUE International Animation Festival 2018 (Budapest, Hungary) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, LOBO FEST 2018 (Brasilia, Brazil) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, 8th Annual STEAMPUNK Film Festival 2018 (Portland, USA) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, ANIMATEKA 2018 (Ljubljana, Slovenia) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Panorama / Non-Competitive, LES SOMMETS DU CINEMA D'ANIMATION 2018 (Montral, Canada) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, MULTIVISION Festival 2018 (St. Petersburg, Russian Federation) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, FILMINUTE 2018 (Online Festival) – OFFICIAL SELECTION, FEKK 2018 (Ljubljana, Slovenia) – OFFICIAL SELECTION.
You’re also welcome to check out:
Festival Adventures with
THE LAST CIGARETTE ON EARTH.
MAKING OF
Music used in the breakdown & process video:
"Barbarian" by Pierlo
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
