In one of the most picturesque places of Jerusalem – Ein Kerem, at the Mamuta, Daniela Passal Art and Media Center, Asya Lukin is working on a new animation film. The idea was inspired by the S.Y. Agnon story “Another Face”. The following images of work sketches and models, present a glimpse on “behind the scenes” animation film making process.

The film is inspired by a short story “Face to Face ” from “The Book of Deeds” (“Sefer Ha-Maasim”) by Shai Agnon.

“Face to Face” – the metaphor is borrowed by Agnon from the Book of Proverbs: “as the water reflects a face to face so a person`s heart”. The story is autobiographical, and it is about a man who attempts to return home to his mother. While reading the story, the reader realizes that actually the main character is trying to return to his past, which is inevitably impossible, but this attempt brings him to meet himself.

The mutual to all the stories of “The Book of Deeds” is an attempt of the main hero to return home, into the past, while the past becomes more real then the present, and the present turns into a dream.

I believe that flexibility is perhaps one of the most important features of the medium of stop motion animation, which enables one to build the overflow from reality to dream, from one time period to another, etc. The bitter humor of Shay Agnon reflecting upon the Jewish traditional world and Agnon`s grotesque in its description, reveals a wide range of comical characters and scenes, that have great potential to be translated into animation.

The film is planned to be three dimensional, made in stop motion technique and built from various materials, including plasticine, plaster, wood, etc.

Asya Lukin