Daniel Gray’s multi-award-winning animated short Hide has launched for free online viewing, being featured as a Staff Pick on Vimeo starting today (Monday, April 17) and available worldwide on nfb.ca, YouTube and Facebook, as well. The 11-minute film is co-produced by La Cellule Productions (France), CUB Animation (Hungary) and the National Film Board of Canada.
“I have been bugging filmmaker Daniel Gray about bringing his incredibly imaginative film, Hide, online as a Vimeo Staff Pick since I caught it at Encounters Film Festival,” said Meghan Oretsky, Senior Curator at Vimeo. “It took over a year, but the Vimeo curation team is finally helping this captivating short make its debut on the Vimeo Staff Picks channel. Hide combines elements of David Lowery’s A Ghost Story and the graphic novel Here by Richard McGuire into a story about time, family, relationships, loneliness and life. I can never get enough of the concept of watching people explore a time period that exceeds the human lifespan.”
Gray noted, “Vimeo has been part of my filmmaking journey from the very start, hosting t.o.m. and teeth, so it’s a great pleasure to be able to show Hide alongside them. It seems like ages ago that Hide started being shown at festivals, so I’m extremely excited to have it available in the wild, for people to experience what we’ve made.”
The latest short from U.K.-born, Hungary-based filmmaker Gray (t.o.m., 2006; teeth, 2015), Hide has been selected by more than 60 festivals around the world, receiving 14 awards to date. Honors include:
- Jury Award for the Best European Film, Krakow Film Festival, Poland (2021)
- Special Jury Award for Short Films (Koji Yamamura) – New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival, Hokkaido, Japan (2021)
- Silver Award for Motion Design, Los Angeles Animation Festival, California (2021)
- Winner of the Main Competition, Piccolo Festival dell’Animazione, Italy (2021)
- Jury’s Special Mention – Canadian Competition, Sommets du cinéma d’animation, Montreal, Canada (2020)
- Special Mention – Grand Competition Short Film, World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb, Croatia (2021)
- Special Mention – Short Film Category of the International Official Competition –Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI), Argentina (2021)
- Top 10 Audience Favorite – International Program, São Paulo International Short Film Festival, Brazil (2021)
About the film: Hide employs whispers in a sparse, quiet soundtrack, and visual design that shifts from bright and spacious simplicity to opaque fragments. Quietness is used to introduce and emphasize moments of stress and chaos.
Two brothers entertain themselves with a game of hide and seek. As one counts, the other hides in a small cabinet. Seconds pass… then minutes… years… and decades. A heartrending and prescient story about family and disconnect, in a world that is increasingly fragmented and unrecognizable.
