Prie Dieu, "pray God" and a term for praying mantis in French, captures the sublime freakiness of the predatory insects at an uncomfortably close range. The film, by two Paris-based filmmakers, Achille Coquerel and Thomas Kauffman, aka Cokau, won the experimental video category at the 2012 Vimeo Awards. They insist no insects were hurt in the making of the film, but the cricket-like bug that gets eaten at 1:55 might disagree. The music and sound design are by Amon Tobin.
The directors released a short behind-the-scenes clip that captures some of the hilarity of working with insect talent:
For more work by Cokau, visit http://cokau.com/.
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