Synopsis
When the world turns upside down, we have a choice to firmly hang on to old ideas or embrace the new view. In Chasing Birds we follow a little girl who playfully chases a bird throughout a chaotic and transformational period. An animated short inspired by the directors own anxiety and her daughter Sunneva.
A word from Tënk
Chasing Birds presents a world that has lost its bearings, and above all, a world where the concept of reality has become a figment of the imagination. Everything here seems suspended in the air, as the usual rules of spatiality (up, down, perspective) are defied. The director elegantly sketches the essential elements for understanding her proposition: various characters and a very long table where micro-dramas unfold, which, once assembled in a single long take, form a human fresco imbued with a certain dismay.
In Chasing Birds, themes of alcoholism, gambling addiction, interpersonal tensions, and a certain loss of common sense are explored. Hence the staging revolves around a tilting movement. With real talent, Una Lorenzen makes this fragmented world tangible, skillfully linking events without ever losing sight of the clarity of the narrative or the coherence of the direction. The bird in the title is probably the only species in this film that has managed to break free from the constraints of existence and fragmented spatiality to fly away freely.
Marco de Blois
Artistic Director
Sommets du cinéma d’animation
