Private Project

Bolt From The Dark*

(updated – 2025) Bolt From The Dark is a surreal, music-driven animated short that explores grief, isolation, and the quiet battle to rediscover hope. At the center of it all is "Astrape," a faceless figure with a glowing cube for a head and crystal eyes in her hands, navigating a dreamlike world filled with dragons, shadows, and echoes of pressure from all sides. The film is carried by the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack “User Friendly” by Greta Zabulyte, which flows seamlessly with the animation and amplifies its emotional depth.

Set against a hypnotic score, the story unfolds through pure movement and visual language. There are no words, just rhythm and light. Astrape’s gestures and reactions carry emotion as she confronts not only the dangers around her, but also the darkness within. Each step she takes reflects the emotional weight of heartbreak, loneliness, and the silent struggle to climb out of despair.

The film is inspired by surrealism, Greek mythology, and personal grief, created during the early months of the pandemic (2020) and later revisited in 2025 as a way to process the emotional aftermath of a long-term relationship coming to an end. From these experiences came a story that’s both personal and symbolic: a visual metaphor for what it means to fall apart, and then slowly try to piece yourself back together.

Crafted with minimal resources but deep creative intent, the project blends 3D animation, symbolic choreography, and shifting colour language to guide viewers through a space that feels both fantastical and emotionally grounded. It is not a typical fantasy short, it’s a visual feeling, an emotional shift, a quiet spark.

In the end, Bolt From The Dark is about the moment where everything breaks… and the quiet, deliberate choice to rise anyway.

  • Prateek Mathur
    Director
    Director
  • Greta Zabulyte
    Composer
    Composer
  • Marjolaine Lebrasseur
    Storyboarding
  • Prateek Mathur
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Music Video, Short, Web / New Media
  • Genres:
    Fantasy, animation, Experimental, Drama, Music Video
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 24 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 1, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    400 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Prateek Mathur

Based in Manchester, UK, Prateek Mathur works as a director, animator, and visual effects supervisor. His creative portfolio spans animation, short films, music videos, and cross-genre experimental projects, underpinned by a solid background in post-production and digital media.

To explore personal experiences and inner transformation, Prateek often leans into abstract themes, blending surrealism, mythology, and emotional symbolism. His work is renowned for conveying intense emotion without dialogue and for its meticulous cinematic detail.

Bolt From The Dark: Prateek’s first independent animated short, completed in March 2021. The film was made during the UK lockdown on a self-funded budget of only £400 (mainly for rendering). The film exemplifies his resourcefulness, skill, and passion for visual storytelling. Inspired by myth, loss, and personal recovery, the project reflects his ongoing pursuit of art that resonates both philosophically and viscerally.

Whether working solo or leading teams, Prateek consistently pushes creative boundaries through emotion, innovation, and a strong belief in the power of animation and visual effects.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

(Updated – 2025)
“Bolt From The Dark” has always been a deeply personal journey for me, more than just an animated film, it became a reflection of my own emotional state during one of the most difficult periods of my life.

While the project began during the strange stillness of the 2020 lockdowns, it was also shaped by something far more personal: the end of a long-term relationship. That kind of separation leaves you raw. You’re not just dealing with the loss of a person, you’re confronting the silence, the loneliness, the dark void that slowly creeps in and convinces you that no one’s truly there for you. In many ways, Astrape’s story mirrored mine. Her search for light through overwhelming darkness was my own attempt to process heartbreak, grief, and the aching isolation that followed. Creating this film helped me push through those nights. It became my way of fighting the silence, of reminding myself that there was still beauty to be shaped from pain.

I wanted to use the language of surreal art and dance to externalise what so many of us feel but struggle to express. By removing any human face from Astrape, giving her a cube for a head and crystal eyes she holds in her hands, I tried to strip her down to pure feeling. Emotion through gesture, movement, rhythm, and light. No dialogue. No facial cues. Just the body reacting to sound, to fear, to pressure and, ultimately, to hope.

The wyvern in the story represents more than just fear; it embodies all the emotional weight we carry when we feel we’re falling, the voices, real or imagined, that tell us we’re not enough. Its breath is fire, but it’s also rejection, regret, uncertainty. In contrast, Astrape’s heart becomes her strength. In sharing her inner light, she transforms not only herself but those around her. It’s a visual metaphor, but also a truth I’ve come to believe that healing begins when we give, not when we hide.

Technically, this film was a massive learning curve. I designed the 3D models myself, worked with rigging artists, and battled long render times. The glowing cube-head pulses to the beat of the music, syncing her emotion to the rhythm, something I spent countless nights experimenting with. Every scene was built with care, using the smallest of budgets but the biggest emotional intention I could give it.

Even now, in 2025, as I revisit this project and update it, I still feel that same yearning that led me to make it. I’m still searching for that bright spark for hope, for healing, for light. But I also recognise that light isn’t a destination. It’s a choice we make, again and again, every day.

Above all, Bolt From The Dark is about that choice. The choice to keep going, even when you’re lost. The choice to believe there’s still something good waiting at the end of the tunnel. The film doesn’t end in full certainty, and that’s intentional. Because light is fragile. Doubt always lingers. But sometimes, all it takes is a single spark to remind us that we’re still here, still breathing, still capable of rising.