SOLSTICE | BAFTA Nominated Animated Short Film | By Luke Angus | 4K

LOGLINE A lonely Inuit must endure the endless summer daylight to be reunited with his lost love. SYNOPSIS In the vast and unforgiving Arctic Circle, an Inuit named Tulok lives a life bound by the extremes of nature. During the long, dark winters, when the sun never rises, the night sky becomes his sanctuary, filled with endless stars. It was under these very stars that he and his beloved partner, Yuka, would let their imaginations soar, painting shapes and weaving stories across the infinite cosmic canvas. But after Yuka's tragic passing, Tulok is left to face life alone. Now, he waits for the summer sun to finally set and the long winter to return, when the stars reappear, and with them, Yuka. DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT (Spoiler Warning) Solstice is a personal exploration of loss, grief, and the profound sense of isolation that can follow the death of a loved one. Set in the vast and unforgiving expanse of the Arctic, the film is a meditation on the ways we cope with absence and find connection in the natural world around us. At its core, this is a story about a man, Tulok, who, after the death of his partner Yuka, must navigate a world that is as harsh and unyielding as his own grief. In creating Solstice, I wanted to delve into the rhythms of loss, where time itself becomes distorted by sorrow. In Tulok’s world, half of the year is consumed by relentless daylight, a stark reminder that life moves forward, even when we’re not ready to let go. The other half, with its endless night, is where Tulok finds solace, looking up at the stars and imagining Yuka’s presence, allowing him to keep her with him a little longer. For me, this mirrors the experience of grief: there are periods when we are forced to confront our pain, and others when we retreat into memories and the familiar comforts of those we've lost. The film’s conclusion, where Tulok recreates the night sky inside his igloo, carries with it a quiet tragedy. While this act reunites him with Yuka in a deeply moving way, it also reflects his inability to move on from her loss. Rather than continue to live under the sun, he chooses to remain in the dark, creating a space where he can be with her forever. There is both beauty and sadness in this decision, reflecting a reality many face when dealing with grief, where the desire to hold on can lead to a kind of emotional stasis. Tulok’s choice speaks to a more realistic, albeit painful, resolution to loss: one where healing does not always mean moving on, but sometimes means finding a way to exist in the shadow of what we’ve lost. My hope with Solstice is to offer viewers a reflection on how we confront grief, how we hold onto the memory of those we've lost, and how, even in the coldest and darkest of times, we can find both beauty and tragedy in the ways we try to heal. PRODUCTION NOTES Solstice was created entirely as a solo project over the course of nearly four years. Working alone allowed me to shape every aspect of the film, writing, design, animation, lighting, editing, and sound, with complete creative control and a unified emotional tone. The process was long and often isolating, but it allowed the film to stay true to its emotional core and to the quiet, introspective atmosphere I envisioned from the beginning.