The Kite
2019 · 13m · Czech Republic / Slovakia / Poland
Directed by Martin Smatana
Genres: animation, drama, family
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
A young boy visits his grandfather across four seasons, bonding over flying a kite. As the grandfather ages, he literally sheds layers until he becomes as light as paper and is carried away by the autumn wind — a tender metaphor for death as natural transformation.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Grandfather literally sheds textile layers until he blows away. 738K YouTube views means the sentimentality is doing its job — beautifully crafted, slightly engineered to make you cry.
Smatana's grandfather literally sheds removable textile layers across four seasons until the wind carries him — a tactile metaphor for death whose materials do the philosophical work. Seven hundred thousand views indicates the gesture's reach.
Characters built from removable textile and paper layers — the grandfather physically sheds layers each season until the wind lifts him skyward, with all solid objects made from paper and natural elements rendered in secondhand fabric. 738K views on the craft alone says it. 13 minutes for full life-cycle metaphor.
Reviews
A heartwarming short, told with an equally charming aesthetic... the perfect starting point for a conversation with a child about loss and grief.
Beautifully textured puppet animation as a metaphor for mortality — the ties and bonds we create during our lives have the immense power to hold on strong even in the afterlife.
Festivals
- Berlin International Film Festival 2019
- Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2019, Young Audience Award (Prix Jeune Public)
- Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) 2019, Tricks for Kids Award — Best Short Film for Children
- Austin Film Festival 2019, Best Animated Short
- Anima Mundi Film Festival 2019, Best Children's Short Film
- Palm Springs International Animation Festival 2020, Best Animated Film
- Biennale of Animation Bratislava 2020, Best Animated Film
- Student Academy Awards 2019, Semifinalist