Meet the Animator
Nata Metlukh

Duration

24 min

Meet the Animator - Nata Metlukh

Nata Metlukh is a Ukraine-born animator and illustrator, now living in the United States. The main theme of her films is life in the big city. She uses digital 2D drawing, bold colours and textures. Nata’s films Paper and Plastic, about an immigrant facing bureaucracy, prejudice and alienation and Awkward, dealing with unpleasant social situations which each of us encounter at one point, have already been recognized by audiences at festivals around the world as an announcement of a new, fresh, of a promising authorial name. Nata started her career as a graphic designer and illustrator, but the field of her interests, as she says, has naturally expanded to animation. Animation, according to her, is a powerful means of expression because enabling one to play with time and space, occasionally with unexpected outcomes.

Fears (2015) is Nata’s graduation film made at Vancouver Film School, which took three and a half months of production, and is her first film. Fears are visible as constant companions of their owners. The creatures can make people’s lives more difficult, but they can also be very useful.

Pura Vida is her graduation film made at Estonian Academy of Arts (2018). It is about four flawed friends travel to tropics where things go wrong. „In the film I wanted to explore a traveling theme“, says Nata, „and how it always feels good to be back home even after holidays in a tropical paradise. And a logline could be: ’East or west – home is best’.“

Paper or Plastic (2019) is her first independent film made not in a film school. An immigrant comes to the first-world country to paint a mural on the tallest tower. He tries to adapt to the new reality, but xenophobia and odd rules force him to go back. The film is devoted to all the immigrants who are stuck in-between the worlds: not quite fitting in the new country, and becoming strangers in their homeland.

Finally, Awkward (2020) about a day full of socially awkward moments. „In this film“, Nata comments, „ I wanted to feature social awkwardness that people experience in everyday life, with a touch of embarrassment and absurdity.“

Nata is young, talented, brave, witty, insightful. Ironically but also critically, in the spirit of her generation, she observes modern man and the world around him.