Flight of the Stone

It’s a far cry from Alvin and the Chipmunks: Violence and global humanity — not singing rodents — are the topics in the family-friendly short film Flight of the Stone, presented today at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. A man throws a stone at an enemy, but the rock misses and instead orbits the earth, glimpsing the struggles of mankind as it sails through Arizona deserts, Indian steppes, Greek mountains, Thai temples and German villages. The stone circles the globe and eventually comes up behind the man who threw it.

The filmmakers moved slowly around the world, using a technique called “pixilation,” shooting one frame every few steps. The result is that the stone seems to be hurtling through the sky — even though the filmmakers would have had to walk for an hour or more to assemble two seconds of “flight.” Flight of the Stone, followed by short film Folklore Restaurant, begins at 2 p.m. 1001 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-639-7300 or visit www.mfah.org. Free.
Sun., Feb. 3, 2 p.m., 2008