New Work – Ruth Beni

All Is Not Lost is a new 7-minute film animated film currently in production. The film is the third in the ALL TRILOGY of short animated films exploring the adversities caused by human conflict.

While All of Us is about the harm that intolerance and prejudice can cause, and All of Our Shadows deals with the day to day anxieties felt by many young people.

All Is Not Lost essentially asks: can compassion and co-operation overcome selfishness and belligerence?

All is Not Lost

The film follows a group of disoriented misfits who are flung together into a deep catacomb after a colossal cataclysm. While trying to find their way in the dark underground caves and tunnels, they encounter danger from the elements and from each other. It brings out the worst and the best in them…

The title of the film has a double meaning: the names of the characters derive from the sounds that they make, as in OOK, SPOG, CLAW, SHWOT, BOB, HAK, TIK, WOOF, KAH and LUG. The main character’s name is ALL – a small shell-like character. ALL and his friend and protector Ook – a rock-like gentle giant, represent the forces of invention and empathy; they create music, they discover fire, and they always watch out for each other. When ALL is hunted and attacked by CLAW, a malevolent and cruel creature, his friends fear that he is lost…

The film has a highly distinctive style, fusing natural objects, such as shells, stones and twigs with specially crafted materials. The animation is an inventive combination of stop motion and drawn animation.