Private Project

Little Stray

A stray dog roams the cold streets longing for a home, when two
men capture her. She is taken to a ‘vet’ for a check-up, before being transported into a warm home. First unsure, she learns to settle into the comforting environment. She goes on a car trip, thinking it is for a fun walk, but pulls up to a rocket site. Strapped into a rocket labeled the Sputnik 02, the dog is terrified as she is blasted into space. It is revealed that this is based on the true story of ‘Laika’ which occurred during the space race in 1957.

  • Kieran Latta
    Director
  • Liz Johnstone
    Producer
  • Isabella Beale
    Art Director
  • May Khaing
    Compositor
  • Sandy Xie
    Animator
  • Jason Yi
    Technical Director
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 35 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 20, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    0 NZD
  • Country of Origin:
    New Zealand
  • Country of Filming:
    New Zealand
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Not Applicable
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Media Design School
  • Media Design School
    New Zealand
    November 17, 2023
    University First Screening
    Not Applicable
Director Biography - Kieran Latta

Kieran is an Auckland based 3D artist and film enthusiast,
currently studying to be a TD in the BoAD paper at Media
Design School. He has strong interests in film and narrative,
practicing filmmaking as a hobby since early childhood. In
2016 he entered the 48 Hour Film Festival and did not win
any prizes because of the absolutely abysmal quality of the
final film. Strongly influenced by the films of Hayao Miyazaki
and Paul Thomas Anderson, Kieran’s ambitions lie heavily in
exploring atypical story structures/processes and in finding
more creative methods of delivering exposition.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

What’s the point in a movie where the point is that there’s no point?
In ‘Little Stray’ we set out to ‘prank’ viewers with a tonal bait and switch. The goal was to set the viewers up to expect the general philosophies and tropes associated with children’s animation, and then to blindside them with a much harsher and firmer reality. The initial reason for this (on a personal level) was in order to combat my fatigue of the genre and aversion to said genre’s established principles. To ‘dunk on’ those ideas in such a violent and sudden way, was always the funniest and most entertaining way to go about the story to me. But as we got further into production, the ‘bait and switch’ device revealed itself to be really well suited in communicating the frustrating and often wasteful nature of the space race, and the manipulative tactics the Soviet Russian regime used to attempt to win it.