After crash landing on a post-apocalyptic island, a boy wakes up to a shadowy giant attempting to swallow him. As the boy runs for his life, he finds an oasis where an injured bird has taken shelter. The two bond over a life-threatening crisis and decide to outrun their fear, the giant, on a motorbike. They race across abandoned landscapes with the anxiety of being caught by the giant intensifying over the course of their adventures.

Directed, written, produced, and scored by Gints Zilbalodis, Away is a one-person production created with computer-generated imagery. With modulated colour character design and no dialogue, the film’s minimalist aesthetic is both refreshing and tranquil.

Gints Zilbalodis (b. 1994, Latvia) is an up-and-coming director and animator. His passion for animation and film began at an early age. His first short Rush (2010) is a hand-drawn animation made at the age of 16, followed by more shorts made with other techniques. Zilbalodis’s debut feature Away (2019) won the Contrechamp Award for Best Feature Film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. His subsequent film Flow (2024) was selected for Un Certain Regard in Cannes Film Festival and nominated for Best Feature at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.