New Zealand filmmaker/designer Joel Kefali (formerly 1/2 of the Special Problems studio with Campbell Hooper) is best known for his music videos for Lorde, Tune Yards, Flying Lotus, etc., but with “Baba” a brisk and graphic short based on the memories of his Turkish grandfather’s early days as a refugee in Auckland, he reveals his background in painting, animation and design.

“With every year that passes, my Grandfather’s accent seems to oddly get stronger, his memory in parts a little more patchy, his stories more elaborate and his history a little more mysterious.

“Memory is a funny thing, past events can often seem greater, more dramatic when looked back on. Beginnings and ends to eras and events can become blurry and I think this is why animation is a fantastic medium to tell this story. Animation helps convey the subjectivity of memory and allows us to shift from present day to the past within the same frame and with a consistent visual language.”

Produced with funding from Loadingdocs.net.

Directed and animated by: Joel Kefali
Producer: Amber Easby
Executive Producers: Julia Parnell and Anna Jackson
Sound Design: Julien Dyne
Sound Recordist: Gabriel Muller
Sound Post Facility: Sale Street Studios
Mastering Facility: Toybox