Directed by Oliver Hegyi, today’s Staff Pick Premiere “Take Me Please” is a surreal yet relatable animation about heartbreak.
The film — which was originally Hegyi’s graduation project — first caught our attention at the 2018 Animafest Zagreb, where it won a special jury mention. We loved the unique animation style, and the way it manages to perfectly capture the surge of emotions that come with breaking up. In the short, a boy tries to escape his pain by hitchhiking as far away as possible. A bizarre and trippy journey ensues, as his mood jumps from sadness to anger, confusion to nostalgia.
In honor of today’s premiere, we reached out to director Oliver Hegyi to learn more about the film’s origins. Here’s what he had to say.
On finding inspiration through heartbreak:
“I wanted to summarize my first love story — mainly the breakup and the writhing part of it. I wrote down everything that happened; after that, I tried to find places, characters, and actions that could symbolize the different parts of the experience, and recreate the mood of those days somehow.”
On battling old feelings and doubts:
“This breakup happened a long time ago, so during the writing process, it was a bit difficult (and sometimes painful) to bring back all the memories and feelings. I had serious doubts about the movie the whole time I was making it. I had a feeling that the film was too short for so much information, so it was like working on a trailer for a feature length movie.”
On not settling for the first draft:
“I heard a really cool quote once that ‘writing is rewriting.’ When I have an idea, I usually believe that I can write the whole story in one minute. But this is actually not true. I’m always disappointed when I watch the first version of the animatic, but then I realize that filmmaking (for me) is the process of rewriting an idea. I keep rewriting it until I’m satisfied. But before going through the whole process, it’s useful for me to ask myself ‘What’s the most important thing in my life right now?'”
On what’s next:
“I’m working on a new animated short film called ‘The Garden of Heart.’ It’s in connection with spiritualism, and it focuses mostly on how our negative thoughts work and how we can live together with them.”
