Kid Koala’s Nufonia Must Fall LIVE at Luminato

Some Sunday evenings are good. Some are even great. Some transcend all known dimensions and impact you on a level that you won’t fully digest for a long time. Last night’s performance of Nufonia Must Fall LIVE at the Luminato Festival was one of those.

Nufonia Must Fall LIVE is a graphic novel animated in real time with a live soundtrack. Based on a graphic novel written by DJ/music producer Kid Koala, it’s a story about the world’s sweetest robot who’s determined to find love. He might have a mean boss and be subjected to other, bad-asser robots, but he outcutes all of them. He reminds us that perseverance is a choice, and a simple one at that.

A team of black-clad puppeteers brought the show’s characters to life in multiple dioramic mini-sets that were projected on a movie screen overhead. Kid Koala was perched on the side threading a ribbon of atmospheric sounds, while the Afiara Quartet offered up a mean slice of strings.

Nufonia Must Fall LIVE is a gift for anyone who has ever wondered how an animated movie is made. It was directed by KK Barrett (Her, Being John Malkovich, Where the Wild Things Are, Lost in Translation, I Heart Huckabees) and had its world premiere at Luminato on Saturday. Kid Koala, who has opened for Radiohead, Arcade Fire and the Beastie Boys, will tour Canada, Europe and the U.S. this summer with Deltron 3030. Luminato runs until June 15.