Lucia
3D animation, Germany, 2004
Director: Felix Gönnert
Language: No dialogue
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 9 minutes
Short synopsis
The story of a little girl in hospital and how she uses her imagination to deal with her illness.
Long synopsis
A little girl is in hospital and stuck in her bed, attached to a drip. One night, she pretends to be asleep as a nurse comes to remove the drip. The little girl, finally freed from her bed, and curious and awake, gets up and walks around the hospital. She wanders along the corridor until she sees a fish in a tank and goes to play with it. Once in the room, she finds some X-rays on a light box that fuel her imagination and take her into a dream-like world where reality does not abide by the rules. The fish she was playing with is free of its tank, floating around in the air, changing colour and shape, and something happens that seems to take away the girl's fear or illness.
Suddenly a doctor comes into the room looking for the little girl and finds her sitting on the ledge under the X-rays, legs dangling. She leaves the world of her imagination and says goodbye to the fish. As the doctor offers her his hand, she takes it confidently and they walk down the corridor together. She looks back to the fish and smiles.
Background
Lucia is an unsettling and moving presentation of the power of imagination. The delicately constructed computer-generated images emphasise the surreal world of a hospital at night through the eyes of an ill young girl. Made up of shades of greys and greens, the hospital corridors appear cold, almost as though they exist under water. Even before we are taken to Lucia's fantasy world, we are enveloped in her perception of these surroundings. By using the images to involve us in Lucia's sense of detachment and isolation, we are more able to travel with her on her journey away from reality, allowing her 'daydream' to become our own.
Felix Gönnert began studying applied Media Studies in 1996, and finished his studies in animation at the Film & Television Academy (HFF) “Konrad Wolf” in 2004. During this time he made the animtaions Lucia and the very short and funny BSSS (1999) as well as the live action short Le Jour se Leve (1996).
So powerful were the images in Lucia, that Gönnert won a special award for creative research in the field of modern technology at the 2004 KROK festival in Moscow, along with numerous other awards.
Teaching materials and additional materials
The teaching materials have been developed by practising teachers to provide a springboard for your own work with your pupils. Feel free to use and adapt them appropriate to your pupils' needs.
There are also some stills and additional materials, provided by the film-makers, that can be used to develop your work with the film and deepen pupils' understanding of the process of film-making.
