Half Wet
2014 · 7m · UK
Directed by Sophie Koko Gate
Genres: animation, coming-of-age, drama
Tones: melancholic, tender, whimsical
An RCA graduation animation premised on the biological fact that humans are born 75% water, declining to 54% by adulthood; on the eve of Gus's 25th birthday, he bumps into Tiny Eyes at dusk, and the encounter charts the emotional geography of losing and finding oneself.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Gate's graduation film carries genuine formal ambition — the water-percentage conceit gives the piece a structural spine that most student animation never achieves — and the BFI and SXSW selections confirm it circulated in serious company.
Gate's RCA graduation. The 75%-water-declining-to-54% conceit is the kind of structural premise student animation rarely earns — and this one apparently did.
Sophie Koko Gate's RCA grad film builds an entire emotional arc out of the biological statistic that we're 75% water at birth, 54% by adulthood. Bronze Jabberwocky winner, and the structural conceit is unusually disciplined for student work.
Festivals
- SXSW 2015
- BFI London Film Festival 2014
- Anima Mundi 2015
- Etiudia & Anima Festival 2014, Bronze Jabberwocky Award