Spent (7:00, color, 1994) Directed by Brett Ingram and Christina Clum

 

Spent is a dark stop-motion tableau of chaos, control, and destiny featuring an unlikely cast of puppets. Set to the mantra-like score (by the band Geezer Lake) of a self-help tape from hell, these demons of monotony populate a craggy subterranean purgatory, each driven to its own course of destiny by a fallen charioteer of the apocalypse. When the charioteer’s whip becomes entangled in the spokes of his static cycle, the ensuing meltdown results in a flight to the proverbial mountaintop.

Spent screened at twenty festivals and cinema venues across the U.S., including the Ann Arbor Film Festival. The film won eight awards, including a “Regional Student Emmy” and “Best Animated Film” at the James River Festival of the Moving Image. The film also screened on regional PBS.