Pithead
Date:
December 28, 2024
Pithead
Pithead
by Wannes Vanspauwen and Pol De Plecker
Animal Tank | Belgium
Live action, absurd eco-drama
Logline
Amidst an icy dreamscape, a woman braves a blizzard to seek refuge in a desolate black metal bar, only to discover a penguin stranded in a nearby tree separated from its colony.
Synopsis
Rain, a 51-year-old woman, makes her way through hail and wind in an icy dreamscape, heading towards Pithead, a bar distinguished by an inflatable penguin on its roof. Inside the bar, strange regulars sip black coffee to a black metal band, as if it were jazz. The bartender mentions a penguin colony migration. Rain and the patrons step outside to see thousands of penguins marching under a moonlit snowy sky. A lone penguin’s cry draws Rain to a tree, where a penguin separated from its colony is stuck high up in the tree. She tries to help but returns to the bar as the storm worsens.
The patrons now dance a tango in the bar, indifferent to the penguin. Rain goes back outside, but the storm obscures her view. She decides to give up and returns to her car. The penguin, alone, watches the inflatable one on the roof but falls dead trying to reach it. Amidst a lightning storm, the penguin colony continues their chaotic, hopeful migration.
Author’s Note
“Today, we find ourselves in a rapidly changing, chaotic world. In Ancient Greek, chaos literally means a gaping void. The great nothingness. An immeasurable, black, empty space without beginning or end. Within it lies the question: what is going to happen? Or, what can still emerge? What happens in the meantime? The global chaos and transformation of today are largely related to the climate crisis, with which we as humans are so intertwined that we can hardly maintain a clear perspective on it.
In Belgium, the climate crisis is not always immediately palpable but rather takes the form of a creeping threat. Climate warming is both invisible and omnipresent. Despite humanity’s entanglement with the issue, individualism still prevails, and in a massive crisis like this, we are thrown back to our individual responsibilities. Pithead is a way to show how we deal with chaos. It takes us into a world that feels both strange and lonely, with characters who must fight their own battles in a cold, desolate, and industrial environment. It reflects our contemporary confrontation with the climate crisis, individualism, and the search for connection in an era of chaos and transformation. It encourages the viewer to reflect on our role in the larger whole.
The audience may be left with a sense of introspection about the human condition in the face of irreversible change and is invited to think about the possibilities for connection and solidarity in an apparently divided world.”
Company Profile
Animal Tank is a Belgian based production company and animation studio, specialized in audiovisual production and services. Brecht Van Elslande and Bert Lesaffer, both based in Ghent, Belgium, founded Animal Tank in the beginning of 2014. They have produced films that won prizes at Berlinale, Annecy and Fantoche, got nominated for the European Film Awards and were sold to ARTE France, France TV, Canal+, Canvas, MUBI and HBO.