12/03/2026 - Swiss animator Léa Favre builds the story of a highly sinister and disturbing encounter from a real audio track

Freshly graduated from ECAL (École Cantonale d'art de Lausanne), Léa Favre takes up the ultimate weapon in every filmmaker’s arsenal – her camera – to pursue a subject for a new documentary. However, the personal story of a silent "chase" transforms into an unsettlingly universal experience as the roles begin to shift. Already presented at several major film festivals (Annecy, Locarno, Tallinn, Krakow), her diploma animation Hunting was awarded the Jury Prize in the European Young Talents section at Ljubljana’s Animateka.

The film begins with young film student Léa giving advice on how the ideal documentary subject "prey" should look. But on arrival at the "hunting ground" of some busy streets near a football stadium, she seems quite dissatisfied with the options available. When she finally believes she has found her target – an older man who seems different from the others, wandering around aimlessly – the trigger backfires. What begins as a harmless approach becomes an incident of sexual harassment, fundamentally raising the question of whether a "hunt" can ever be gender-neutral.

There is an innocent playfulness in the stop-motion technique of Hunting, a childish naivety that resonates with the protagonist's lack of awareness. The dark turn in the story, therefore, naturally entails the destruction of this kind and warm world – in this case, quite literally. As the process of intimidation begins, the image goes completely black, leaving the viewer with the sounds of the original recording Favre secretly made during the real confrontation.

The realisation that no one can escape their predetermined social roles hits the audience with raw immediacy. The reason why anyone becomes a victim of assault seems both irrational and unchangeable. While Léa is left with the confusion of how one can cope with such a situation, the director herself offers a way of healing. By transforming this trauma into a creative work, Favre ultimately resolves her character’s tensions.

In its 11 minutes of shifting dynamics, Hunting tells a story that should never have happened, yet remains ever present in society. Revealing everyone’s vulnerability even when they feel in control, Favre paints a dark portrait of the exploitation of opportunity – although, we realise, no darker than reality itself.