Screening
Animation Category Finalist
Bluebeard’s Castle
Ho Sheung-ning Shirley
Col / 3' 00" / No dialogue and subtitles
Maya is locked in the castle after marriage but is allowed to access all the rooms except the last one. Bluebeard’s shadow intentionally leads her way to the inner part of the castle. Maya’s curiosity leads her to explore the rooms one by one. The deeper Maya goes, the darker is the secret revealed. It seems that there is a trap ahead.
Artist’s Statement
I found great interest in interpreting the one-act opera Bluebeard's Castle which is a sophisticated play that contains symbols and metaphors to conceal the meaning and the theme. This animation illustrates my understanding and analysis of the original work and the process can be considered as a project of thematic transformation. In a general term, the story tells a journey of a woman exploring a man’s soul. By substituting the original theme and the meaning, and by disguising the story into an exotic tale, Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle is sculpted in a different image.