In a gloriously imagined 1920s world inhabited by people who have gramophones for heads,
young composer Hero Wasabi has left Japan to study musical composition in Venice,
accompanied by his oboe-playing cat Jacuzzi.
Hero is a student of the terrifying Madame Zero at the Scuola di Musica, where his
fellow students include the aristocratic Count Telefino, an unscrupulous telephone-head
who is planning a campaign of dirty tricks to help him win the school’s graduation prize, the
Abacus Scroll.
As Hero struggles to compose his graduation piece, Count Telefino employs the
villainous Morso Codo to steal the music and destroy the instruments of potential rivals, but
he doesn’t bother with Hero Wasabi, thinking him no competition.
Shortly before the Abacus Scroll concert, Count Telefino hears Hero’s latest piece and
realizes he must be dealt with. Morso Codo breaks into Hero’s studio, steals his music and
breaks his piano.
Despondent at the loss of his score, Hero decides to return to Japan without
competing for the Abacus Cup. As Count Telefino goes on stage to play his bombastic
composition complete with choir and triangle-playing elephant, Hero and Jacuzzi trudge to
the docks.
There, Hero experiences a vision from his home which gives him the heart to go on.
He and Jacuzzi race to the concert hall and are just in time to play, preventing Count
Telefino being declared the winner.
Hero’s simple piano and oboe piece deeply affects the audience. Hero wins the Abacus
Scroll, triumphing over the furious Count Telefino.
Jonathan Nix
A graduate of the Australian National University School of Art and of the Centre for Animation and Interactive Media at RMIT, Jonathan has also been a double bass, banjo, guitar player and singer with bands including The Gadflys, King Curly and Machine Translations.
Jonathan’s first short animated film ‘Hello’ (2003) has won many awards including the Fipresci Film Critics prize at the Annecy Animation Festival in France; an Australian Film Institute award for Best Sound in a Non Feature; and other prizes from numerous international festivals.
His second film ‘The Twelve Months’, won awards from festivals including Les Nuits Magiques, France; FICCI BAF Awards, India; and the Miami International Film Festival. Jonathan’s third animated short ‘Gustavo’ screened at more than thirty international festivals and won an AGSC Award for Best Music in a Short Film.
Jonathan lives in a beach suburb of Sydney with his wife, Kathryn, a musician and composer, and their two children.
Click
here to read Darryn King's interview of Jonathan Nix for
TIME OUT Sydney.
Click
here to read Hugo Ozman's review of 'The Missing Key' at the 2011 Sydney Film Festival, for
TwitchFilm.com.
Click here to read a review of 'The Missing Key' at the 2011 Sydney Film Festival, on Castle Co-Op.com by Blake Howard.