Dinner for few | Animated short film by Nassos Vakalis

During dinner, "the system" feeds the few who consume all the resources while the rest survive on scraps. Inevitably, the struggle for what remains leads to catastrophic change. The offspring of this transition turns out not to be a sign of hope, but the spitting image of the parents.

Original title - Dinner for few
Director and writer - Nassos Vakalis
Producer - Nassos Vakalis, Katerinai Stergiopoulou
Music - Kostas Christides
Year - 2014

Orchestration by Kostas Christides, Mark Buys, Jared Banta
Orchestra Conducted by Vladimir Martinka
Music Performed by Bratislava Studio Orchestra

This short film won multiple awards, including:

- 9th Cyprus Iff – Cyprus – Best Short Film Director
- 37th Drama – Greece – Best Music
- 37th Drama – Greece – Special Jury Award
- 8th Expotoons – Argentina – Best Short Film
- 4th Ecofilm – Mexico – Best International Short Film
- 47th Sitges – Spain – Animation Special Mention
- 6th Reanimania – Armenia – Best Short Film
- 4th Bethere! Animation Festival – Greece – Jury Award
- 24th Curtacinema - Rio De Janeiro Isff – Brazil – Audience Award
- 10th Animarte – Brazil – 1st Place Environmental Film Audience Award
- 10th Animarte – Brazil – 2nd Place Environmental Film Jury Award
- 10th Animarte – Brazil – 1st Place Best Environmental Film North America Award
- 10th Animarte Curitiba Grand Prix 2014 – Brazil – Honorable Mention Award
- 10th Animarte São Luís Grand Prix 2014 – Brazil – 1st Place Environmental Film Award
- 10th Animarte São Paulo Grand Prix 2015 – Brazil – 1st Place Environmental Film Award
- 10th Animarte Lençóis Maranhenses Grand Prix 2015 – Brazil – 1st Place Enviromental Film Award
- 7th Animasyros Iaf & Forum – Greece – Special Mention
- 6th Enmut – Spain – Best Animation Short Film
- 3rd Tally Shorts – Usa – Runner Up
- 18th Zoom - Zblizenia Iff – Poland – Best Animated Film By Yougn Jury
- 28th Medina Del Campo Film Festival – Spain – Best International Short Film
- 10th Athens Animfest – Greece – Grand Prix “Athena”
- 4th Tracce Cinematografiche Film Festival – Italy – Special Mention
- 37th Uncipar Film Festival – Argentina – Best International Short Film
- 2015 Short Of The Year – Spain – Best Animation Short Film
- 4th Cinema Prepetuum Mobile – Belarus – Special Mention Perpetuum Adversi
- 6th Piélagos En Corto Iff – Spain – Best Screenplay Award
- 21st Bilbao Fantacy Film Festival – Spain – Audience Award
- 12th Caostica – Spain – Animation Special Mention
- 2nd Navi Mumbai – India – Runner Up
- 2nd Summa3d – Spain – Canal+ Best Animation Award
- 21st Festival International Du Film Nancy-Lorraine – France – Best Original Music
- 31st Alexandria Film Festival For Mediterranean Countries – Egypt – Special Mention
- 8th Sydney Underground Film Festival – Australia – Special Mention
- 10th Shorts Mexico – Mexico – Best International Short Animation
- 26th Fano Film Festival – Italy – Special Mention
- 7th I(N)Differenti – Italy – Best Short Film
- 1st Global International Silent Film Festival – Usa – Special Audience Award
- 27th Festival De Cinema De Girona – Spain – Best Short Animated Film “Millor Creació”
- 1st Festival Internacional Del Cortometrajes Cine Petiso – Argentina – Special Mention
- 10th Festival Internacional Del Cortometraje "Fic" – Argentina – Special Mention
- 22nd Publicystyka – Poland – Distinction
- 9th Klik Animation Film Festival – Netherlands – Best Political Animated Short
- 7th Festival De Cinema Fantástico Da Coruña – Spain – Best International Short Film
- 7th Festival De Cinema Fantástico Da Coruña – Spain – International Grand Audience Award
- 2nd Upstate Ney York Horror Festival– Usa – Best Short Animation
- 2nd Upstate New York Horror Festival – Usa – Best Music Score
- 5th Festival De Cine Fantástico De Torremolinos – Spain – Best Short Film
- 23rd International Environmental Film Festival Ficma – Spain – Best Short Film
- 31st Interfilm Berlin – Germany – Special Mention Confrontations Category
- 17th Certament Cortos Soria – Spain – 2nd Place Award In The Dieta Mediterránea Category
- 25th Fancine – Spain – Best Short Animation
- 8th Cineuphoria Awards 2016 – Portugal – Best International Animation Award
- 8th Cineuphoria Awards 2016 – Portugal – Honorary Mention For Freedom Of Expression
- 9th Ecozine Film Festival – Spain – Best Short Animation
- 5th Carmarthen Bay Film Festival – Uk – Best Short Animation
- 48th Fotogramma D’oro Film Festival – Italy – Special Mention
- 7th Greek Australian Film Festival – Australia – Best International Film
- 1st I.P.A.S. Political Activism Film Festival – Greece – Audience Award
- 1st Chania Cartoon & Animation Festival – Greece – Jury Award
- 1st Palm Springs Animation Festival – Usa – Best 2d Odd And Twisted Animated Short

© Licensed by Magnetfilm

[DaFuqBoom]

Its symbolic how the first pig that died is the judge, which represents the law.

[thefourthguy]

I like how the food is made from the room around them. They are literally killing the world to feed an insatiable hunger.

[Nef_TheGreat]

The fact an ad popped up while I’m fully invested 4 minutes in paying attention to every detail was like the mouse distraction shown here

[DK]

I like how this is set in a hotel. Hotels are normally for high-class, but _expensive_ and _temporary_ stays.

[malcolmmutambanengwe]

I like how when a single cat looks under the table and discovers the snake which bound all the pigs together, how it was taken from the masses and never seen again. This speaks about how individuals on their own, like whistleblowers (Asange), cannot change a corrupt system unless all the people notice it too and rise up.

[izramamna]

Cats: Folks/common people
Mouse: Distraction
Pigs: Politicians/elite people
Cook: Nature
Tiger: Revolution
Room: Environment
Food: Resources
Chain: Corruption
This is just my representation, you still could had your own opinion, I wouldn't restrict anyone

[jorenaldo]

I like how the pigs come from the cats themselves, they have the same origin and are the same as the others at the beggining, and still so different in the end

[MeYou-xejn]

HOTEL said HELL at the end during the lightning strike!!! crazy crazy animation but i could feel it was from the heart that feels, ears that hear and eyes that see, thank you for this video!

[oznuryesil]

It's an endless vicious circle. The society has made it its duty to feed the politicians, bureaucrats and the rich who are insatiable and chained by their ambitions.

[shadycatnipdealer]

I love the metaphor of how the meek and begging cats, representing the common folk, turn into a powerful tiger when their efforts are united. We truly are stronger together, and we are slain when we allow ourselves to be divided again.

[AiNguyen-bjxm]

The characters of pigs just remind me of the fable Animals farm by George Orwell.
The background music, settings, cats are terrifically haunting

[tarkan]

Thank you to the people who interpreted the animation very well in the comments. I would like to add that at the end of the animation, 'hotel' is written on the building. To me, this represents the world where we are not permanent, where we are our home that we will one day leave.

[bratello]

Everything was said without a single spoken word. Masterpiece...

[anonymously-mysterious]

I love how even after the revolution, it happens again. Almost as if people are non-stop power hungry and greedy for money. The quote that kept popping up in my head was “what happens when the many, stops fearing the few”.

[TiffanySoulbird]

Excellent short film! One thing that struck me...the wind up mouse toy used to distract the cats. It happens "hot news topics" purposely used as distractions. The ppl only transform into the tiger when hungry enough to ignore the distractions but we need to start seeing them for what they are, far before we reach the point of desperation. Excellent message!

[SimplyDuker]

Someone already pointed this out, but at 9:07, there's one minor detail: when the lightning struck for a brief moment, the sign's title transformed from "Hotel" to "Hell".

[commenter]

And while the pigs eat everything, they convince the cats that if you scrounge enough crumbs together, you could be like them one day

[jeremyandrews]

At first I was thinking they were trying to critique capitalism, but then I realized that this analogy applies just as equally to the Soviet Union during its collapse, with the party elites at the top and the people at the bottom ready for change. What it really makes me think of is what capitalism and communism have in common... the Soviet Union was all about trying to industrialize and modernize as rapidly as possible while spreading its ideology all around the world to gain power and influence. In the Soviet Union, the Communist Party and the state-owned enterprises were the pigs, and the food came from taxes, while the scraps the cats got represent what little was "redistributed" to the people. In the USA, private companies are the pigs, the food comes from consumer spending, and the scraps the cats get are what they've worked for that they have to compete with others for... maybe even by working together with others who look like them against other hungry people who look different (black and white cats). That is to say, there is something capitalism and communism do have in common, and it's that there are people at the top who live high on the hog, all resources are consumed in relentless industrialization and production of whatever the elite thinks is needed to stay in power, whether it's war materiel or consumer goods, and a lot of people on the bottom who are given some kind of hope... in America, the hope was that if they worked hard enough they could become one of the pigs, in the Soviet Union, it was that "true communism" could be achieved and we wouldn't need pigs anymore, that they were a temporary and necessary evil. It's like... there's a certain kind of materialistic worldview underlying both systems that focuses on improving material conditions and chasing modernity, the fundamental argument between the two systems is precisely how material conditions should be improved and whether the government or the private sector is a more trustworthy steward to keep an economy humming along and producing resources, with the real answer being that neither is... the pigs get in either way.

[betoneiracromadarebaixada]

The waiter being human is a fun analogy. He represents the own nature of our species, that feed this madness, and even when everything goes wrong, it survives just to restart the cycle again

[OdysseySynth]

The voting box to hold the silverware is an amazing analogy too (its a tool for the elites)