Jan Kounen: Undisputed Master of Psycho Stop Motion Animation

As inspiration for the Levitation Challenge, a demonstration of pure stop motion genius: Jan Kounen's Gisele Kerozene, the tale of four extremely odd witches "flying" on motorized brooms. If Tokyo's Levitating Girl has to jump 200 times to get the perfect shot, imagine how many times these four guys had to jump to get a full 4 minutes and 30 seconds of stop motion magic.

Warning, mild violence.

"In France, a director has the final cut by law. In Hollywood it is very difficult to have a certain respect when you are doing the film. I prefer to do small things in Europe and have a cool life."

-Kounen, mubi.com.

Kounen is as he describes—an undeniably cool filmmaker. The Dutch-born French director has a list of innovative films to his name, a disinterest in international fame, and a penchant for shamanism—(while on location in Mexico and Peru, Kounen became enthralled with the Shipibo-Conibo people, and spent several months in 2004 shooting a feature-length documentary on the culture, titled Other Worlds). 

You may have seen Kounen's latest film, Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, which was selected as the Closing Film of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, but unless you're an avid fan, odds are you've missed out on the short above. Pretty amazing.