Reflective Encounters

“By opening on an elegant black and white shot emphasising the lights of a city plunged into darkness and mist, Suruaika immerses the viewer in the mind of a cat-like character prostrated on the bed of his flat. Over mysterious atmospheric music, the film takes us somewhere between a crime film and a video game universe.

The relentless repetition and monotony of the days and the suffocation caused by city life seems to have taken its toll on the mood of our main protagonist. He only finds comfort in his home, and more precisely in the company of a cat with luminescent eyes that grows bigger and bigger, just like the existential angst that is affecting its owner. This angst grows to such an extent that it is impossible to hold back the pain any longer: the feelings have to emerge on their own and flow into public space.

Torn between stomach-ache and tender feelings, this animated short by directing duo Vlad Ilicevici and Radu Pop delves us into an apocalyptic moment in the life of a being who has to regain control over his emotions and inner desires – who must free himself to finally be himself.”

— Florian Fernandez