The Buenos Aires duo of director/animator Bruno Persico and graphic designer/writer Clara Fernández look back at the unexpected consequences of the pandemic shutdown on our closest relationships in their short film Aire.

Produced as part of a contest held by the Ministry of Culture of Argentina to create one-minute animated films about the COVID-19 shutdowns, Aire was completed over a two month schedule for a budget of US$2,500.

Clara Fernández: “I was interested in telling a story about the intimacy of bonds: the buried desire, the fears, the restrained impulses, the latent threat.

“The confinement of the quarantine revealed the sinister that hides in everyday life, the disturbing that filters into our closest ties. What moved me was to go back to the small dramas that this pandemic brings with it and that terrify us as much as the virus itself: realizing that you can’t stand your children, discovering that without work life feels empty, getting locked up with the wrong person.

“This is the story of a woman at that moment when she is about to do a transgressive act that will completely change the course of her existence. I wanted to reflect the intensity and deep emotions that she goes through when she decides to take charge of her own life and free herself from the confinement of that bond that takes her breath away.”
 
 

 
Director: Bruno Persico, Clara Fernández
Script: Clara Fernández
Animator: Bruno Persico
Art: Nahuel Rollan
Clean Up/Color: Martin Ayerbe, Milena Benmuyal
Graphic Designer: Asis

Music: Juana Aguirre
Sound Design: Martin Scaglia, Agustín Casola
Voices: Lory Fuchs (her), Marcelo Manzi (reporter)