Rob Munday

Studies have shown that nostalgia can provide significant comfort during challenging times, offering a familiar refuge when the present or future feels uncertain. This belief that the past was somewhat better played an influential role in Katarzyna Kijek and Przemysław Adamski’s impressive short Slow Light – a film about a boy who sees seven years into the past.

“We often follow our thoughts to the past in moments of weakness”

Explaining, in their directors statement, that they believe individuals have a tendency to follow their “thoughts to the past in moments of weakness”, the directorial duo used this perspective to build a narrative around how this obsession with the past can lead to “bad life choices”. Citing the “transformation in Poland in the 90’s” and how people “couldn’t cope with the post-communist reality that followed” as a prime example, all these elements motivated the pair to create a story about “a man incapable of living in the present and not comprehending his own actions in real time.”

However, while the pair identified a desire to “reflect on the burden of the regime change” in their homeland, they also recognised the need to make a film with universal appeal. To do this, they focused on the “emotional immaturity” of their protagonist, as they believed this was a human trait that many would identify with.

The tactile nature of the stop-motion in the short was “inspired by the models helping visually impaired people experience the paintings in the museums.”

While Slow Light is built around a captivating premise, it’s the aesthetic that truly makes the short film stand out. Combining vibrant stop-motion, created using layers of cut-out material to depict the tactile nature of the protagonist’s present, with traditional black-and-white 2D animation to illustrate the time-delayed vision central to the plot. Employing contrasting styles to depict the two different time periods might seem clichéd and predictable, but it’s executed with such style and finesse that it’s impossible not to enjoy.

In an interview with Jamie Lang on Cartoon Brew, Kijek and Adamski revealed that they “often start working on a new project by picking the technique,” highlighting that the craft is just as crucial to them as the narrative in conveying their work’s meaning. This approach explains why Slow Light is so meticulously crafted. The stop-motion, in particular, involved laser-cutting and hand-painting an estimated 90,000 individual elements, with the painting process alone taking seven months.

With a collection of Staff Picks, an Annecy Cristal, and numerous other awards to their name, Kijek and Adamski’s work was already well-known to the S/W team. However, Slow Light feels like the pinnacle of their career so far. With their technique-driven approach perfectly complementing the storyline, resulting in a short film that remains endlessly captivating.