Céline Roustan

In the wilderness of a forest, as two creatures meet, a courtship display begins where attraction and seduction meet danger. Léoluna Robert-Tourneur’s Hold Me Tight captures the explosive nature of the encounter, with an incredibly captivating and mesmerizing visual aesthetic, which effectively conveys the physicality of the scene.

From the opening shot, there is something deeply intriguing and already quite physical in the altercation between the two birds. Set in the darkness of the night, the film plays with the connotations it implies and when the hunt begins, the pacing becomes thrilling and immerses us, almost trapping us, in that forest. 

Hold Me Tight employs a distinct and captivating aesthetic to tell its story.

Visually the film catches the eyes of the viewer and never lets go, with the color palette helping to establish the tone. The transitions are seamless, creating a flow between images that make watching the film feel like a voyage. However, where the film is truly effective is in how sensorial it feels. It is very rare for a film to successfully recreate the sense of touch as viscerally as this one does. 

The choice of colors against the dark backdrop, the score and how the different images are intertwined recreate every single emotion the two creatures experience. Between attraction, passion, erotism, and a certain violence, the wilderness and animality of the narrative is cleverly captured visually. Robert-Tourneur displaying a remarkable creativity within the animation medium to give the film its palpable energy.

Hold Me Tight had a great festival run including stops at the 2021 edition of SXSW and the 2022 editions of Guadalajara and GLAS. It was also awarded the Jean-Luc Xiberras Award for the first short film in Annecy and is now part of the famous and highly regarded MIYU catalog for distribution.