Dina Velikovskaya's Animated Short 'Ties' Explores Family Bonds and Distance

Russian filmmaker Dina Velikovskaya (b. 1984) created the animated short film 'Ties' (Italian: 'Legami'), which premiered and won awards at major international film festivals. The film, drawn entirely with a 3D pen, follows a young girl who leaves her parents' home. A symbolic thread connects her to her birthplace and past, stretching and fraying as she moves farther away, reflecting on the difficulty and necessity of leaving one's family to grow. Velikovskaya herself emigrated from Russia to Berlin in 2018, drawing from personal experience. The short explores the value of roots and the challenge of confronting the world without anchors to the past.