Escape Velocity
2019 · 8m · Hungary
Directed by Tamás Rebák
Genres: animation, sci-fi, thriller
Tones: contemplative, surreal, tense
An astronaut awakens in an abandoned cave of a strange planet. A light path leads him to the surface, where he heads for his spaceship — but he has been chased by a creature for a long time, and his only way to break free is to escape this curious planet.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
It's got the bones of a sci-fi thriller but plays it fairly straight—the creature-chase-on-alien-planet thing is exactly what you'd expect, and Rebák doesn't seem interested in upending that. Competent animation, zero provocation.
The surreal tone and contemplative pacing situate this thoughtfully within the lineage of philosophical sci-fi shorts, though the execution feels more atmospheric than structurally rigorous—it drifts rather than builds.
That decision to keep the creature mostly unseen, letting sound design and negative space do the hunting—that's the film's spine, and it's what transforms an 8-minute chase into something genuinely disorienting and alive.
Reviews
After a stellar run on the festival circuit, Budapest director/animator Tamás Rebák sent Stash his animated grad film Escape Velocity, a space-bound allegory about letting go punctuated by a sweet-natured plot twist.