WORTH WATCHING
Watch: 'The Shining Star of Losers Everywhere' Short Doc on a Horse
by Alex Billington
July 27, 2016
Source: Vimeo
Never give up! This is one of those short film discoveries that makes you smile and feel so happy you want to grab the nearest person and tell them to watch it with you. The Shining Star of Losers Everywhere is an ESPN 30 for 30 short documentary made by Mickey Duzyj profiling a Japanese racehorse named Haru Urara. This horse is special because she kept losing, she lost over 100 races in a row, and yet was turned into a national superstar. The doc explains that Haru Urara became a symbol of hope, of "never giving up", for the Japanese people during their depressing economic crisis in the 90s and 00s. She also helped save the racetrack where she was from in a small town in the south of Japan. It's a wonderful doc with some fantastic animation and great interviews. I highly recommend watching, even if you have no interest in horse racing.
Description: Haru Urara, a Japanese racehorse, became a national icon after enduring a losing streak of epic proportions. Dubbed "The Shining Star of Losers Everywhere," she was a symbol of perseverance and inspiration during a time of economic crisis. Available on Vimeo. The Shining Star of Losers Everywhere is an ESPN 30 for 30 short documentary produced by The All-Nighter Room, a Brooklyn based production company founded by Mickey Duzyj specializing in inventive documentary storytelling and animated shorts. The film is directed by Mickey Duzyj (@mickeyduzyj), and produced by Mona Panchal Yuka Uchida. It screened at the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Aspen Shortsfest, and won Best Short Documentary at Hot Docs this year. For more from All-Nighter Room, visit Vimeo. To see more shorts, click here. How was that?
Reader Feedback - 16 Comments
1
Loved this! Easy to see how it took the Hot Docs win. Incredibly simple, but effective short form storytelling aided by perfect touches of animation. The best things do come in small packages. Thanks for posting it.
Movie Bear on Jul 27, 2016
2
Did the looser's become Burgers :o)
LV 426 on Jul 28, 2016
4
oops, totally forgot about putting the third O in there, my bad.
LV 426 on Jul 28, 2016
5
Inspiring, BUT horse racing is a gross and barbaric thing.
DAVIDPD on Jul 28, 2016
7
No it is not. Do a two minutes of research.
DAVIDPD on Jul 28, 2016
8
I am not familiar with the horse racing universe. But sometimes, I wish I were a racing horse. No mortgage to pay, you are fed and cleaned twice a day. what's not to like...
tarek on Jul 28, 2016
9
Yeah, that's what I thought.
DAVIDPD on Jul 28, 2016
10
;D Oh! you are talking about horses being drugged? Come one. people are being drugged every day, and they even pay for it ( cigarette, alcohol). Cigarette smoking causes about one of every five deaths in the United States each year. (life expectancy for smokers is at least 10 years shorter than for nonsmokers). 88,009 people (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women) die from alcohol-related causes annually, making alcohol the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the United States. In 2014, alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 9,967 deaths (31 percent of overall driving fatalities).
tarek on Jul 28, 2016
11
As I said before, you could do two minutes of research and see for yourself. You have already admitted ignorance on the issue.
DAVIDPD on Jul 28, 2016
12
You can help me though. I did try to google "racing horse" or "horse racing". All I got was irrelevant to our discussion.
tarek on Jul 28, 2016
14
15
;D It's just a bickering for fun. Nothing serious. Last time I fought someone I was maybe 15.
tarek on Jul 28, 2016
16
Not sure what is happening either. This guy is just really enthusiastic, but doesn't fully grasp tone.
DAVIDPD on Jul 29, 2016
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