Originally released as an animated comic on Instagram back in 2016, Jonathan Djob Nkondo’s FUTUR SAUVAGE is a 7-minute short featuring some hugely impressive design and refreshingly inventive storytelling. A dialogue-free film, set in a desolate world of geometric beasts and a primitive spear-wielding civilisation, Nkondo’s short sucks you in with its intriguing set-up and keeps you hooked as things get progressively weirder and weirder.

An unnerving short with a bleak atmosphere perfectly reflected in its bold, ominous palette of browns and reds, FUTUR SAUVAGE instantly puts its audience on edge with its alien world and unexplained events. Probably not a short best suited for those looking for more answers than questions from a narrative, Nkondo’s film certainly leaves you wanting more – but not in a bad way. In fact, the universe he creates is one you can imagine unfolding further in your own mindscape as you try to not only decide how the story ends, but where it all began.

Originally catching our eye with the equally intriguing Dark Day series he created for Super Deluxe, you may already be familiar with some of director Nkondo’s animation and just not know it. Having worked on recent S/W picks Strange Beasts, Scavengers, June and A Kiss, Deferred, it’s great to see more of Nkondo’s own distinct work. If these early indications of his talent for blending story, style and delivery are anything to go by, he should be an animator we can expect great things from in the coming years.