The Death, Dad & Son (La Mort, Père & Fils)

The son of Death does not want to take over the family business. What he secretly dreams of is becoming a guardian angel - but pursuing this dream will lead him to find himself in a disastrous situation. And it is his father who has to get him out of this mess... It all starts with Death and his son sitting at breakfast. When Death goes to work, he forbids his son to watch funny cartoons. Instead, he is to paint the fence white. Then Death goes to town, where he works through the death list of the day and looks after the souls of the dead - suicides, traffic deaths, deaths in hospital and in a plane crash in the mountains. Meanwhile, his son watches cartoons despite the ban, and in one of them an angel saves a woman from a burning building. Now he wants to become a guardian angel! When his father catches him with a made-up halo, cardboard wings and a white dress, there is trouble. So the son secretly leaves the house. In the city he discovers a slaughterhouse and saves a cow. But the cow runs into a car, killing not only herself but also a couple. Only one child survives and cries. So the son of Death retrieves the souls of the parents - who then mutate into zombies and go on a murderous hunt for humans. Finally, Death appears to put things in order. He reconciles with his son and spends a nice day with him at the amusement park. Until the roller coaster breaks down... This short film was screened at numerous festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival, the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film and the Animation Festival of Annecy. It is based on the comic book "Welcome to the Death Club - Père et Fils" by Winshluss, whose real name is Vincent Paronnaud, a comic book author and filmmaker and a master of macabre humour. Paronnaud became famous for his animated film "Persepolis" (2007). The question remains whether "Death, Senior & Junior" is also a film for children. Ultimately, this is a matter of judgement, especially since some children are more familiar with media and less anxious than others. This film illustrates the fact that you have to let children explore and discover the world for themselves in order to grow. You can protect them from many things, but not from everything. Telling children about death and mourning in a film that is appropriate for their age can help them to better express their fears and experiences of the inevitable parting from life in images and words.