Private Project

Who Is The Zookeeper

A young soul named Lu ventures into a world of shadows reflecting a weakened state of humanity. There Lu struggles to find grounding in memories of a familiar universe governed by kindness. Despair is crushing. The escape is behind the mirror.

  • Masha Vasilkovsky
    Director
    Il Doctor, Fur and Feathers, Eyes of the Azure, Ashe ‘68
  • Ruah Edelstein
    Director
    Died 100 Times, Ashe’68
  • Jinghan Zhang
    Director
    Elixir
  • Masha Vasilkovsky
    Writer
    Coming of Age, Seven Circles
  • Ruah Edelstein
    Writer
    Coming of Age, Seven Circles
  • Jinghan Zhang
    Producer
    Elixir
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Short
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 47 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 1, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    70,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Lithuania, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    2K resolution, 2048×1080
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.90:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Houston
    United States
    Rami Award of Houston International Film Festival, Official Selection of Houston International Film Festival
Director Biography - Masha Vasilkovsky, Ruah Edelstein, Jinghan Zhang

Masha Vasilkovsky:
Masha Vasilkovsky's films have been presented at Centre Pompidou, Annecy Animation Festival, Museum of Modern Art New York, among other venues. Masha is internationally known for award winning animated films made in paint-on-glass technique, such as "Fur and Feathers" (2000) and "Eyes of the Azure" (2016).  Masha’s animation is featured in such productions as, "Il Doctor" (2005) dir. Suzan Pitt, "Lo Azul Del Cielo" (2012) dir. Juan Uribe, and "Tell Me Cuba" (2006) dir. Megan Williams. Since 2000, Masha has directed and animated over 50 films. Since 2003 Masha has been teaching film production at Character Animation Department of California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and at Media Entertainment Arts Department at College of the Canyons.

Ruah Edelstein:
Ruah Edelstein is a Lithuanian-American animation director known for a body of conceptual work including films, paintings, site-specific installations. Since 2008 Ruah Edelstein has directed and produced over 50 films. In 2012 Ruah co-founded Lumen Animae Studios in Los Angeles. The studio has presented work at Sundance, Tribeca Film Festival, Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles, US Open Tennis Championship, Holocaust Museum LA. Awards include: the SIMA Award and Emmy Nomination for “Ashe ’68”. Ruah is on the faculty at CalArts, teaching film production in the Department of Character Animation since 2012 and has been a guest artist at Film University of Babelsberg, Seoul Institute of the Arts, UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television.

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Director Statement

It took 2,5 years to make this film. We wrote the script in Summer 2021 completing the production in early 2024. As our world moved from one crisis to the next during this period, we perceived new dimensions in the flow of the film looking at it through the prism of each hurricane unfolding during its production. Where is that cure from despair that would cause the world to move back in balance? Each one of the people on the street could be that, including you and I.

The 3D world illusion of the film is achieved with sculptural relief animated on a 3-layer glass multi-plane. To achieve desired plasticity we created a recipe to prepare our own
oil-based clay in the studio. For some scenes we combined clay animation with sand, including one scene where only fluorescent sand under a black light was used. Most action moves through space, with multiple characters in the frame, were animated directly under the camera. Character acting was of primary importance to us. The eyes of the main character look alive due to LED lights shining from behind them.