02/07/2023 - A masterful portrayal of grief in a monochrome world and a colourful creative’s response to it

Currently a student at FAMU in Prague, Philippe Kastner looks into the mirror of personal memories for his 9-minute animation Dede is Dead, which premiered in the Generation section of the Berlinale earlier this year. The protagonist of the Czech production is the director himself in his younger days. Opening with an endearing shot featuring a series of framed portraits, we are quickly acquainted with the full cast, including the eponymous Dede: the family dog. We are then treated to several charming sequences in which Kastner and his pet share day-to-day life: they go for walks, they sleep in/on the same bed, they go out in the garden... ad infinitum.

But is it not these "plain," shared experiences which really make the world go round? On all of these occasions, we further nurture our love, and that is why it hits so hard when the day eventually comes to say goodbye. Dede’s time comes, and we are left with the protagonist’s immense grief. We see him go through the five stages of mourning up-close, his struggles in a monochrome environment. And then, at the end of it all, comes the revelation: this is not, in fact, the end.

The colours of the world start to reveal themselves as Dede’s soul roams freely between dimensions. With the help of nature and paint, the filmmaker turns his intense feelings into art in order to achieve cathartic closure. Mirroring the opening shot where Kastner holds Dede tenderly, we are presented with a bittersweet image in which Dede holds her master. In the end, we say farewell to this remarkable film with a linocut of Dede, crafted by the director himself.

Despite working with a digital animation technique, Kastner also uses the appeal of hand-drawn styles, and to successful effect. One example of this is the sequence depicting Dede’s death, where her lively, scribbly animation slowly comes to a halt. The minimalistic character and environmental design heightens the emotions the artist wishes to convey to his viewers, encouraging them to focus on the action, while the lack of spoken dialogue ensures universality. Dede is Dead successfully demonstrates the skills of promising talent Kastner, notably his ability to fully engage the audience.