Turbo’s blueprint for beauty

Spain’s screen industry trade body has launched another staggeringly awesome short that, like its witty meta piece on filmmaking The Cause of The Accident That Started the Fire, is bound to attract a plethora of awards.  

Titled La Llama, it is a philosophical exploration of human interaction with our built environment. It was produced by White Horse, Apartamento and VFX studio The Post Office, directed by Turbo (Pau López and Gerardo del Hierro) with animation led by Pablo Navarro. 

The film’s rich and lyrical script – from Leticia Sala, Vincenzo Anglileri and Pau López – celebrates the beauty of pure design and the poetry hidden within the ordinary, sweeping across such existential queries as humankind and human art’s relationship with the cosmos, with nature – “The work must appear to have sprouted from the earth… ” – and with architecture – “there is no modern architecture without respect for place.”

It also champions the objects that quietly shape our everyday lives – a consideration that leads to a smashing spot of chair anthropomorphism. 

The breadth of the script’s ideas is matched by the variety of its visual styles, which morph into each other taking the viewer on a fanciful journey that's underpinned by a cracking score composed by Yerai Cortés and sound design from Studio El.

The film ends with the proud admission – “Created solely by humans making beautiful mistakes.” Hooray for humans.