1916, 4min, UK, Animation/Drama
Directed by Oscar Lewis

An old man remembers the last time he saw his father, walking with him to the train station in rural England. This short film was made to mark the centenary of men with families being conscripted to the army in 1916 during WW1.

Seen at the August 2016 ANIMATION FEEDBACK Film Festival in Toronto.

Movie Review by Kierston Drier

Oscar Lewis, director of UK film 1 916 has chosen a story that is poetic and heartbreaking and it is visually interesting. The story appears to be the retold memory of that last time a boy sees his father.

The writing is poetic, thoughtful, abstract and heart wrenching as it slowly dawns on the viewer that the charcoal flip book style drawings we are seeing, are the worn and smudged memories of these final moments the child can recall with his father.

This piece is compelling, although slow moving. It is not a laugh a minute, raucous comedy, nor a bright whimsical romp through imagination.

It is a farewell letter from a son to his father, arriving a lifetime later. We know the narrator recognizes now what he did not recognize then that this one moment as his father walks him towards a the train that will carry the father off to war will be their final moments together.

Despite this mournful undertone the piece is not outrightly sad. It is reflective, pensive, and thought provoking.

Perhaps it is meant to remind us that memories can fade, like sketches in a book, and only with careful keeping, can we recall them and keep them close to us.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of the short film: