João Vaz Oliveira, whose Kairos short film we featured in Stash 169, teams with fellow Lisbon motion designer César Furtado to set a tone of thoughtful drama for the the Atlas Animation, Visual Effects & Gaming Festival.

João Vaz Oliveira: “For a while, I had felt the festival needed a proper opening video — something that could set the tone and give people an emotional entry point into the experience. I brought the idea to César (who founded the event), and we quickly landed on a theme we felt strongly about: the digital overload we all live with, and how it’s affecting our sense of self, truth, and human connection.
 

“The video turned into a kind of visual manifesto, built from multiple voices but grounded in a shared urgency to reflect, reconnect, and rebuild.”

 
“From there, we brought together a group of Portuguese motion designers who deeply connected with the concept. Each artist brought their own vision, and the main challenge was keeping the piece cohesive while letting that diversity shine.

“Some live-action scenes were also filmed and then transformed into ASCII art — creating a digital abstraction of human presence, and reinforcing the theme of distortion through technology.

“In the end, the variety became a strength — the video turned into a kind of visual manifesto, built from multiple voices but grounded in a shared urgency to reflect, reconnect, and rebuild.”
 
 

 
Client: Atlas Festival

Director: César Furtado, João Vaz Oliveira
Script: César Furtado, Marco Espirito Santo
Editor/Post/Live Action: João Vaz Oliveira
Animator/Designer/Motion: André Lima, André Pires, Carlos Marques, Dialogue, João Vaz Oliveira, Mário Domingos, Rui Rocha

Music/Audio: Miguel Madeira