Swedish filmmaker Niki Lindroth von Bahr expands once again her imagery, this time with eccentric, melancholic, and depressed animals singing what ails them, without being able to exorcize it, in a work that continues the themes and visual style of her previous films. The animation, short in duration but with an unbridled imagination that leaves a lasting impression on the viewer, presents a series of small moral fables, delineated by absurd verses about situations that defy common sense – a snail singing about eternal grief, or a mouse whining about having nothing else to do – which emerge as evidence of an ever closer fate, as a prelude to an imminent end. This is von Bahr’s sophomore trip to Curtas Vila do Conde, after winning the Animation Grand Prix in 2017 with her short “The Burden”. (JA)