Reflective Encounters

“Daniel Benjamin Gray’s sense of playfulness within the animated medium is at the forefront of this foreboding film. As the childlike nightmare of being forgotten slowly evolves into the far greater, more adult fear of time slipping away exponentially as we ourselves age. Hide represents Grey’s first solo personal film, which was in development as he wrapped on his and fellow creative partner Tom Brown’s last film, the much-celebrated Teeth (2015). Gray’s talent as not only an artist and animator but as a storyteller enables him to produce a brooding, atmospheric vision of childhood play, his use of colour – along with the spectral design of the central characters – highlighting the fragility of the human body.

The moistness of the eyelid, gaps between teeth, the translucent quality of skin, all captured with unsettling levels of detail. By raking over and unveiling elements of the human body, he shines a light on the way our bodies start as, and return to, small, helpless beings. The film also depicts the voyeuristic nature of today's society as we witness, engage with and seemingly take part in life from our own personal (but often isolated) vantage points, ever-watching but never truly present in the moment.”

— Laura-Beth Cowley