Panta Rhei (2018)

Directed by: Wouter Bongaerts | 10 minutes | animation, short film | Original voice cast: Tom Vermeir, Griet Dobbelaere

Stefaan Geeraerts is a marine biologist in the short animation film ‘Panta Rhei’ by the Flemish Wouter Bongaerts. A dream job, many people would say, but Stefaan is not happy. At the start of the ten-minute animation we see him observing a washed up humpback whale. Washing up the poor marine mammal sets in motion a series of changes in Stefan’s life that seem unstoppable.

Stefan’s girlfriend does his utmost to understand and support him, but the introverted man repeatedly rejects her and only gets annoyed. When he has the idea that he sees water flowing everywhere, it is clear: Stefaan has serious psychological problems.

‘Panta Rhei’ means ‘everything flows’. It is a philosophical thought that says that nothing stays the same. If you trace this back to this short film, you could conclude that Stefaan is stuck in his train of thought. He may have problems with the grind of his work, he feels that everything is repeating itself and he wonders what the point of his existence is. The inner struggle is beautifully designed, with a nice symbolism that fits the theme of the film. The animation style is ‘old fashioned’ 2d and the use of color is very nice, so some scenes are worth framing. On the narrative level, ‘Panta Rhei’ is perhaps just a little too short to make a lasting impression. However, it does make us curious about further work by this animation director.