digital / color / 7min. / 2018 / Japan
director, script editor animation: SOEJIMA Shinobu / music: Marty HICKS / sound effect: HASUO Misaki
The Spirits of Cairn is a story created by imagining an afterworld where children who have died young may end up. This destination is a world with neither joy nor sadness in the gap between heaven and hell, and exists in various religions under names such as the “Banks of Hell” and “Limbo of Infants.” （S.S.）
A story of the world after death that children who have died young may reach. The protagonist, who loiters in this completely white world that is neither heaven nor hell, does nothing but pray and perform a ritual for the dead. The techniques used are not novel, but the ability of the artist comes through in the quality of craft that is difficult to believe is a first effort at animation. The reflections of the artist’s experience of spending her formative years in Indonesia are also worthy of note.（I.H.）