©Aki KONO / Tokyo University of the Arts

15th Animation Division Jury Selections

Promises

Animated short film [Japan]

KONO Aki

Outline

It is the season when the trees are steeped in red. A woman weeps in grief over her dead child. Wishing to be with the child, the mother peels away its shadow, and the mother lives peacefully with the shadow of her dead child until one day a man bearing darkness with him appears and demands the shadow back. Not wishing to lose her child again, she makes the man a promise…. The semi-3D like method of silhouette animation adds depth to the universal theme of a mother’s love for her child.