In Matteo Burani’s Playing God, a clay figure comes to life only to be abandoned as imperfect by his sculptor and must fight for its very survival and existence in a sea of past failed efforts.
Awards Buzz spoke with Burani and producer Arianna Gheller about this film’s very distinctive genre and how they feel about it being considered horror. Burani had emphatic thoughts to share:
“Well, this was a really, yes, courageous, let’s say, way to approach, the medium of an animation. But it’s what we are, you know. We like making this kind of cinema. A lot of times during this festival run we did in this past year, all the people talked about horror, body horror, regarding our film. Of course, there is this grotesque and dark visual. But I believe that it’s not always correct to put a label on the cinema in this way, because what it’s important is what a film can communicate to you. Sometimes, using this kind of aesthetic is a way to provoke the people, but not provoke just for the sake of it, but to provoke a thought. And even with this trauma about the aesthetic and about everything, my hope is to express an idea, a concept, multiple concepts. The way that I like to communicate in this part of my life, in this part of our life, it’s something that is a part of us, and we want just to be honest with the way we see the art.”
Gheller added:
“Yes, and I think that animation leaves some stereotype, experiments of some stereotype, like animation is just for kids, but I think it’s just a wonderful and powerful medium to express an idea, a concept really wide and without age, without target. I think that is useful to create even this kind of project, this kind of film, for adults too. I hope that the people will see in Playing God not just that it’s a horror film and grotesque, but the meaning of the story.”
Watch the video above to hear more about the process of designing this film and how audiences have responded to it.
Playing God is on the Oscar shortlist for Best Animated Short.
