Andrea Aste
We Even Trapped Water
short animation
Stop Motion Animation
Director and Script: Temi Diaz
Illustrations, animation and editing: Andrea Aste
Original soundtrack: Giorgio Boffa
Running Time: 17' 34”
Language: English
Country: Panama City, 2023
When Temi Diaz, the author and director of this short film, first presented the idea for "We Even Trapped Water" to me, I was genuinely excited. Our paths crossed serendipitously in the fateful year of 2023 at the London Book Fair. At that time, he was already deep into the scriptwriting process and was looking for an artist to bring it to life. I am very proud to have been hired to work on this amazing project.
Its values resonate very deeply with mine: a criticism of our consumeristic society from an environmentalist point of view.
Working on this short film was a real pleasure. It is a low-budget production, but today, with a lot of passion and a computer, almost nothing is impossible, and, nope, no AI was ever involved in its creation! We believed in the film and dared to present it to as many film festivals as we could reach out to. And we never expected such success from critics and the public! I am very pleased with it!
From an artistic point of view, to shape the final part of the film, I drew inspiration from one of my passions: utopian societies and cities. History is a treasure trove of ideas lost in time, never realized, or dramatically failed—such as Plato's attempt to build an authoritarian utopian city-state in Syracuse during the 4th century BC, the mystical Tommaso Campanella's "City of the Sun", or visionary projects like Jacque Fresco's Venus Project (a sustainable city) and Arcosanti, the first arcology that architect Paolo Soleri built in the Arizona Desert. An amazing view!
After having screened in many film festivals around the world, "We Even Trapped Water" is now available to watch online. Enjoy the show!
Synopsis
"We built cities of glass, but forgot the rivers that made them shine."
Imagine a world where crystal tears of the sky, meant to dance freely, are caged. Where rivers are choked by our thirst for control. This is the world of "We Even Trapped Water", a short animation that delves into the cracked mirror of our past.
It whispers a cautionary tale of how harmony with nature dissolved into avarice, how power and greed built dams not just of stone, but of our humanity. We see the rise of an ever larger ego, forgetting the simple truth: we are not masters of nature, but brushstrokes on its canvas.
Through vibrant imagery and poignant storytelling, "We Even Trapped Water" confronts us with the consequences of our disconnect. It invites us to step back and remember the fragile dance between humanity and the world it inhabits.
This is not just a film, it's a mirror, a reflection of where we stand. Will we remain captors, or learn to flow again with the tide?
-Finalist New York Animation Film Award (2023)
-Honorable Mention World Film Carnival Singapore (2023)
-Official Selection Barcelona Indie Filmmakers Festival -BARCIFF (2023)
-Official Selection Maui Film Festival (2023)