Leo Metcalf is a filmmaker and educator with a background in international radio production, having spent a decade creating programs on health, environment, and education in Madagascar and Afghanistan. His directorial debut, DisAstro (2017), is an experimental documentary examining capitalism and the Greek economic crisis through their effects on the landscape. The film premiered at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival and went on to win “Best Experimental Short Film” at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Film Festival in India. It was also featured at London’s Whitechapel Gallery.

Metcalf holds a Master’s degree in Animation from the Royal College of Art, where he created the 360° film The Everything Move, which premiered at Aesthetica Film Festival in 2020. He currently teaches Animation at Bath Spa University.

Director Statement
This interactive 13-minute mixed media piece explores themes of childhood through a deeply personal lens. A lot of what defines us comes from moments in our childhood we cannot well remember, let alone understand. The distant past can feel like a fuzzy dream we awoke from years ago.

I represent the fragmented and degraded memory of my early years through rough hand-drawn animations based on my childhood drawings. Dreams served as a vital refuge for me during those early years. To depict them I immerse the audience in live-action underwater tableaux and soundscapes which invoke otherworldly atmospheres, peaceful but also destabilising.

The experience has interactive moments which immerse the viewers in the experience, but also incorporates a mentally participatory element: Using the intimate darkness provided by the VR headset, it invites audiences to contemplate the nature of their memories of their parents, and what they will ultimately be left with.