From Omeleto.
A young girl flies to the zoo.
THE FLIGHT is used with permission from Stepan Chernetskiy. Learn more at https://justgiving.com/page/theflightcartoon.
Sirens are going off in a city, and a little girl is taking refuge in a bomb shelter. As their city is destroyed, she huddles with others in her city, including a kind old woman, Nana, who takes her under her wing.
During the bombing, the girl’s beloved toy giraffe is destroyed. But her protector has a magical ability that can cheer her up — and perhaps save some of their favorite places in their town from war.
Directed and written by Stepan Chernetskiy, this charming and lyrical animated short is a delicate yet serious flight of fancy, helping to transform one little girl’s experience of a traumatic situation into something endowed with the magic of childhood. Though it begins under a shadow, as sirens warn of incoming bombs and a lonely girl lugs her belongings to the shelter, it becomes infused with a cheerful, gentle spirit, showing how kindness and imagination can be a balm in even the most difficult of times.
The storytelling begins with the little girl entering the shelter alone, lugging a suitcase as big as she is. Told with no dialogue, we can see she is alone, though she finds a protector in a grandmotherly woman, Nana. The visuals have simple, rounded shapes and gentle colors, with whimsical flourishes and charming details folded into each scene. But while the storytelling details remain gentle overall, underlined by an expressive piano musical score, it never shies away from the difficulty of war or how it affects young children in concrete, palpable ways. When the girl’s beloved toy is wrecked in an explosion, she is devastated.
But when Nana uses a magic powder to cheer the little girl up, the film uses animation’s innate power to bring anything to life, from suitcases that can fly to bombs that can be redirected. The film’s middle section is enjoyably fantastical, defying the laws of gravity and nature in a way that will delight children (or anyone’s inner child). The magic can even help save the animals in a zoo from even more bombs, though we can never forget that this is wartime, and every war has its casualties.
Whimsical, gentle and sincere, THE FLIGHT is a childhood reverie that is equal parts playful and thoughtful. Created in part to raise awareness, it is also honest about the difficulties of war and its effects on children, reminding us that 1-in-5 children globally are living in or fleeing conflict zones — about 473 million children globally. Most of those children will lose more than a toy, as well as lose out on education, opportunities and stability. The film asks that we do not forget them, even as talk of geopolitical conflicts in all their complexities fills our screens and feeds.
